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Background. Online health information (OHI) is widely available and consulted by many people in Western countries to gain health advice. The main goal of the present study is to provide a detailed account of the experiences among people from various demographic backgrounds living in high-income countries, who have used OHI. Design and methods. Thematic analysis of 165 qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted among OHI users residing in Australia, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland was performed. Results. The lived experience of people using OHI seem not to differ across countries. The interviews show that searches for OHI are motivated from curiosity, sharing of experiences, or affirmation for actions already taken. Most people find it difficult to appraise the information, leading them to cross-check sources or discuss OHI with others. OHI seems to impact mostly some specific types of health behaviors, such as changes in diet or physical activity, while it only plays a complementary role for more serious health concerns. Participants often check OHI before seeing their GP, but are reluctant to discuss online content with health care personnel due to expected negative reception. Conclusions. This study adds to the body of knowledge on eHealth literacy by demonstrating how OHI affects overall health behavior, strengthens patients' ability to understand, live with, and prepare themselves for diverse health challenges. The increasing digitalization of health communication and health care calls for further research on digital divides and patient-professional relations. Health care professionals should acknowledge OHI seeking and engage in discussions with patients to enable them to appreciate OHI, and to support shared decision making in health care. The professionals can utilize patient's desire to learn as a resource for health prevention, promotion or treatment, and empowerment.

While 'public health medicine' is a specialised field, most medical practitioners practice 'public health' to some extent, e.g., undertaking preventative screening tests or advising individuals about lifestyle interventions. While requirements to demonstrate capability in public health are common to medical education around the world, medical programs face a challenge to integrate public health education and promote health advocacy in an environment where the doctor: patient relationship is at the core of learning. Students who spend part of their medical education working within general practice or community settings have an opportunity to observe and identify issues of public health importance, and to see how they impact at both a personal and a population level. This paper aims to illustrate how a year-long research project can provide an opportunity for medical students to learn about public health issues and methods to investigate them. Analysis was undertaken of the research topics chosen by eight successive cohorts of medical students, representing 519 students, who successfully completed a research project. Over half of the student research projects (51.8%) directly related to Australian national health priority areas of dementia, obesity, arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, asthma, diabetes, mental health, injury prevention and control, cardiovascular health and cancer control, and a further 28.5% of projects had a specific public health focus, within domains that include lifestyles and health, communicable disease, and healthy growth and development. Researching public health topics in the community setting represents a practical way to engage medical students in learning about public health, and can help to develop their potential to become 'clinician researchers', investigating and understanding issues relevant to their communities.

Evidence-based medical practice is best achieved by developing research understanding in medical practitioners. To this end, medical councils worldwide increasingly recognise the importance of medical schools graduating students with well-developed research skills and research capacity. To meet this need, the principles of programmatic assessment were implemented in designing a research and critical analysis curriculum and assessment program that aimed to enhance the research and critical analysis skills of medical students. The program was developed by mapping assessment tasks to a research capabilities framework that was in turn scaffolded to different levels of Miler's pyramid. The curriculum and assessments were integrated with the science, clinical, and professional aspects of the medical course. The progressive longitudinal development of research skills, with feedback and academic mentoring, culminated in the students' capacity to undertake an independent research project. Designing an assessment program for learning encouraged students to develop their research capacity by involving them in their learning.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this article is to investigate patients' attitudes to the use of chaperones for intimate physical examinations (IPEs) in a sample of Australian general practices. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of adult patients from 13 randomly selected general practices in regional New South Wales was conducted between September and November 2012. Generalised linear mixed models were used for analysis. RESULTS: Of 780 surveys distributed, 687 (88%) were returned; the age range was 18-91 years and 356 (52%) were from female patients. Most women had never had a chaperone present for a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear (82.6%). Between 23% and 33% of respondents preferred a chaperone with their usual general practitioner (GP) across IPEs and gender of the respondents. The odds of preference for a chaperone were significantly less with a GP whom the respondents did not know well, compared with their usual GP, for a Pap smear (female) or genital examination (male). DISCUSSION: Individualised discussion regarding chaperone use for IPEs is warranted, especially with patients seeing their usual GP.

Research skills are fundamental to the building of the evidence basis of professional practice, are at the core of lifelong professional learning and are the keys to discovery, innovation and knowledge transfer. Research competency is thus increasingly recognised as an important educational goal for graduates in many professions. This paper describes a flexible program, adaptable to any professional course of study that allows students to engage in meaningful, scholarly and authentic research. Students are supported to undertake a research activity that spans the research continuum from development of a research question through to dissemination of findings, and strategic points in-between.

Background and objective Patients' transition from hospital care to their general practitioner (GP) can put them at risk of unforeseen adverse events, which can be minimised by the GP receiving timely access to hospital discharge summaries. The objective of this article was to develop and pilot a discharge summary assessment tool, inclusive of components that Australian GPs identified as being most important for the safe transfer of care. Method Development of the instrument was informed by a literature review pertaining to key components of effective discharge summaries. These components were included in a survey instrument, which was piloted by Australian GP participants. Results From 118 responses, the five highest ranked components of a discharge summary included lists of medications on discharge, diagnoses on discharge, reasons for any changes in medications, and details of follow-up arrangements and treatment in hospital. Discussion This paper describes the initial development and results of piloting an Australian discharge summary quality assessment tool.

Background: This study aimed to assess and compare health literacy levels in a range of university-based health students. Methods: A survey containing the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) was administered to students enrolled in university-based medical, allied health or nursing degree programs. The HLQ scores and scale scores were compared across student groups. Results: In total, 374 students (24% response rate) with a median age of 25 years (range: 17-61 years), returned completed surveys. Three students who did not identify their degree programs were excluded from the final analysis which included 371 respondents; 242 graduate-entry medical students (65%), 67 allied health students (18%) and 62 nursing students (17%). Overall, the medical students had the highest score for seven of the nine HLQ scales; while the nursing students had the lowest score for all of the nine HLQ scales. Conclusion: These results show that health literacy profiles are different across student groups. In order to provide excellent patient-centred care, and to successfully look after their own health, a high level of health literacy is required by future health professionals. Health literacy training modules, tailored according to the different needs of the student groups, should therefore be included in university-based health professional degree programs.

of a poster presentation at the 2016 National Medicines Symposium, 19-20 May, Canberra, Australia.

of a presentation at the AMEE 2015 conference, 4-9 September, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Research is increasingly recognised as a key component of medical curricula, offering a range of benefits including development of skills in evidence-based medicine. The literature indicates that experienced academic supervision or mentoring is important in any research activity and positively influences research output. The aim of this project was to investigate the human research ethics experiences and knowledge of three groups: medical students, and university academic staff and clinicians eligible to supervise medical student research projects; at two Australian universities. Training in research ethics was low amongst academic staff and clinicians eligible to supervise medical student research. Only two-thirds of academic staff (67.9 %) and students (65.7 %) and less than half of clinicians surveyed (47.1 %; p = 0.014) indicated that specific patient consent was required for a doctor to include patient medical records within a research publication. There was limited awareness of requirements for participant information and consent forms amongst all groups. In the case of clinical trials, fewer clinicians (88.4 %) and students (83.3 %) than academics (100 %) indicated there was a requirement to obtain consent (p = 0.009). Awareness of the ethics committee focus on respect was low across all groups. This project has identified significant gaps in human research ethics understanding among medical students, and university academic staff and clinicians. The incorporation of research within medical curricula provides the impetus for medical schools and their institutions to ensure that academic staff and clinicians who are eligible and qualified to supervise students' research projects are appropriately trained in human research ethics.

of a presentation at the AMEE 2015 conference, 4-9 September, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

of a presentation at the HERDSA 2015 Conference, 6-9 July, Melbourne, Australia.

Background Many Australians with arthritis self-manage their pain with prescription and/or over-the-counter pain medications, containing paracetamol. If taken appropriately, these medications are relatively safe; however, if mismanaged through patients' inability to understand medication labels and instructions, these medications may cause adverse drug events and/or toxicities. Aim This study explored the prescription and over-the-counter pain medications most commonly used by people with arthritis and the ability of these patients to correctly identify paracetamol as an active ingredient in commonly available preparations. The study also investigated the functional health literacy of these patients and their inclination to borrow and/or share pain medications. Method Adult participants diagnosed with arthritis were invited to complete an anonymous survey which included questions about their prescription and over-the-counter pain medications; their medication borrowing and sharing behaviours; their functional health literacy; and their knowledge about preparations containing paracetamol as an active ingredient. Results Most of the 254 participants used analgesic agents containing paracetamol, as combination tablets (paracetamol 500 mg and codeine 30 mg) or paracetamol-only tablets (paracetamol 665 mg) to self-manage their pain. Respondents with low functional health literacy scores were significantly less likely to identify paracetamol as an active ingredient in both combination and paracetamol-only pharmaceutical products, and were more likely to guess or did not know how to identify that paracetamol was an active ingredient in these products. Almost 30% of the respondents indicated that they had and/or intended to borrow/share their over-the-counter pain medications whereas less than 10% suggested that they had and/or intended to borrow/share their prescription pain medication. Conclusion Australians with arthritis, especially those with low functional health lite

The aim of the project was to investigate how Australian patients feel about the use of chaperones for intimate examinations in general practice.

Research indicates that graduating doctors believe they are deficient in the skills needed to become evidence-based practitioners. To address this the University of Wollongong’s new Graduate School of Medicine has embedded research and critical analysis (RCA) skills into the case-based curriculum. A key component of the RCA curriculum is improving the medical students’ critical appraisal skills by participating in Journal Club during their first phase of the course. Feedback from the first two student cohorts participating in Journal Club suggested that it was not important or interesting. To increase the level of interest, enthusiasm and participation in Journal Club peer-assessment and an end-of-year reward through friendly competition between tutorial groups were added for the third cohort of students.

Background: Medical students at the University of Wollongong undertake a community-based research project during their year-long rural/regional clinical placement. This allows students to put into practice their prior learning in critical analysis of relevant literature while introducing broad principles of research methods and interpretation. We evaluated the research capability of students before and after conducting their research project. Summary of work: Students were guided to design projects relevant to their own and community interests. Research capability across two cohorts, encompassing 150 projects, was determined with respect to: writing a research protocol, use and interpretation of the literature; research methods; and results, using the “Research spider” selfassessment tool (Smith et al, Primary Health Care Res Devel; 2002; 3:139–140). Summary of results: Students improved in nine of ten aspects of research assessed in the research spider. These included: defining a research question: presenting; and writing a report. Capacity to apply for research funding did not improve. Conclusions: The research projects engaged the students, stimulated them to think about research issues in rural and regional Australia, and measurably improved their research capability. Take-home messages: Practical involvement in a research project develops authentic learning and improves the research capability of future medical practitioners.

Few Australian medical practitioners have post-graduate research qualifications or engage actively in research and many graduating doctors believe their knowledge of basic research skills is lacking (Millar, 2009). In developing a medical curriculum for the new Graduate School of Medicine (GSM), at the University of Wollongong, we took the opportunity to embed and integrate research and critical analysis (RCA) throughout the 4-year postgraduate program with the long-term aim of developing research-aware doctors practising evidence-based medicine. As part of the RCA program, all students conduct their own community-based research project during their 12-month placement in a regional or rural area of New South Wales. Their research project aims to consolidate and expand the research skills introduced throughout the curriculum since its commencement in 2007. This presentation reports on the success of the program in providing important research experience and skills.