From a content analysis on 10.168 abstracts extracted from the six most influential journals in medical education published since 1988, 29 major themes were identified for research in this field. In short most of the themes were about the preparation of medical students for professional practice. From the analysis the following topics were the most prominent: student assessment, clinical and communication skills, clinical clerkships, and problem based learning. Declining themes were multiple choice examinations and computer-assisted instruction The authors conducted this research based on curiosity but also about which topics are increasing and which show a decline in the last 20 years. .....read more »

On any given day we're lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lie can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and "hotspots" used by those trained to recognize deception -- and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving. No related posts. ..read more »

Certainly the Dutch Government could do with some advice from hackers, better yet employ them and let them test your network security. Despite multibillion-dollar investments in cybersecurity, one of its root problems has been largely ignored: who are the people who write malicious code? Underworld investigator Misha Glenny profiles several convicted coders from around the world and reaches a startling conclusion. No related posts. ..read more »

Optimism is good for you, this feature enhances physical well being, gets you more adjusted and satisfied with life. But what is the relationship between optimism and personality? Of course the big five was used to answer this question. For those of you who don't exactly know what the big five is The Big Five model is an empirically-derived, ‘‘lexical’’ model of personality consisting of the following five major factors identified through analysis of adjectives from the English language: (1) Extraversion/Positive Emotionality, (2) Agreeableness, (3) Conscientiousness, (4) Emotional Stability versus Neuroticism, and (5) Openness/Intellect. Optimism in this research was defined as a .....read more »

In this short talk, psychologist Dan Ariely tells two personal stories that explore scientific conflict of interest: How the pursuit of knowledge and insight can be affected, consciously or not, by shortsighted personal goals. When we're thinking about the big questions, he reminds us, let's be aware of our all-too-human brains. Related posts: Conflicts of Interest in Medical Journal Publishing When Leaders Sacrifice Group Goals for the Sake of Self-Interest DSM V and Author Conflicts ..read more »

Unfortunately not a real top gun, only 20% of attacks are successful, nevertheless stunning footage of one such bird diving through the sky over London in order to try and catch a pidgeon.No related posts. ..read more »

George Church talks about where the future of personal genomics is headed and what research has yielded so far. Decoding the human genome did not yield what people initially expected. In this lecture George Church talks about where the future of personal genomics is headed and what research has yielded so far. Related posts: Personal Web Usage in the Workplace What is your personal blogging style Complaints of loss of personal memories after ECT: evidence of a somatoform disorder? ..read more »

Very inspiring, funny talk starting with a nice anecdote about a Dutch art collector selling a Vermeer to a nazi in World War 2. Why do we like an original painting better than a forgery? Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that human beings are essentialists -- that our beliefs about the history of an object change how we experience it, not simply as an illusion, but as a deep feature of what pleasure (and pain) is. No related posts. ..read more »

In Academia it's common knowledge that a critical component of academic success in health sciences is promoted by a mentor. A lot of health science institutions have invested in formal mentoring programs for faculty and trainees. But what makes a mentor and outstanding mentor from the perspective of a mentee. What are the key characteristics of these outstanding mentors? From qualitative research of the important qualities of outstanding mentors as described by their mentees’ letters of nomination for a prestigious lifetime achievement award inmentorship, the key characteristics are: Admirable characteristics of mentors included descriptions of outgoing and interactive personalities, kindness, and justness as .....read more »

Received a mood lifting email written by one of my distinguished colleagues from Britain which I couldn't resist publishing here for my readers. The colleague is Peter Tyrer. I call upon ZDoggMD to write some music to it, preferably hip hop. I thought that, despite our best intentions, we are all in the Impact Factory together and perhaps we need to have a British Journal of Psychiatry song we could sing to our potential contributors, which I know includes all of us, so here it is: The Impact Factory Song There comes a time of year Which for some yields joy and cheer Whereas for others it brings .....read more »