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April 30, 2004

Haynes and Wilczynski in BMJ on optimal Medline search strategies

Haynes, R Brian and Wilczynski , Nancy L
Optimal search strategies for retrieving scientifically strong studies of diagnosis from Medline: analytical survey
BMJ 2004;328:1040 (1 May)

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April 28, 2004

LTSN01 conference on clinical placements

The Learning and Teaching Support Network for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine (LTSN01) is hosting a one day conference for its constituency. The theme is external clinical placements. In Dentistry they are called ‘Outreach’, in Veterinary Medicine they’re called ‘Extra Mural Studies’ (EMS) and in Medicine they’re simply ‘Clinical Placements’.

This conference will be a unique opportunity for the constituency to come together to exchange ideas and discuss issues around this theme. Issues such as how do you assure quality in placements? How can portfolios and elearning support learning on placements? Attendees will leave with new ideas about supporting innovation and sharing good practice in the management and support of external clinical placements.

See: http://www.ltsn01.ac.uk/resources/meetings/twentytwenty_vision for more

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Medical education resources

There's now a dedicated area for medical education resources within the BSMS electronic learning environment, studentcentral
It can be found in the BSMS Management Area, under course materials

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Emoderating workshop

An interesting LTSN01 workshop on emoderating. The course aim is described as:
"to provide training in the development and implementation of emoderated courses"
More information at: http://www.ltsn01.ac.uk/resources/meetings/workshops/emoderating_skills

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April 19, 2004

Goodbye to iBlog

TI'm afraid I'm moving away from iBlog and am going to use MoveableType's Type Pad service instead. I'm sorry to do this, as I like iBlog, and it's been very useful, but some of its limitations, for example the way my RSS feed of one of my blogs gets mangled, mean that I realy do need to move to something more developed and sophisticated and MT seems to be the tool of choice.
I did try to get my ISP to let me install MT on my site, but while they were happy to let me install MT itself, they wanted extra money for me to run mySQL , which MT needs (well in fact it needs one of several databases, but I think they would have wanted more dosh to let me run any of them)

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April 10, 2004

BMJ on teaching communication skills

Today's BMJ carries an article on teaching communication skills which suggests that it is driven more by what doctors think is good communication than by what patients really want.

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WHO publish online register of trails

The BMJ reports that WHO and Current Controlled Trials have established an online register of controlled trials approved by WHO's ethics review board. Current Controlled Trials have developed a international standard randomised controlled trial number (ISRCTN) to help control information on trials. The register can be searched at:

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April 02, 2004

BMJ: Latest What the Educators are Saying

The latest What the Educators are Saying feature appears in the new BMJ

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BMJ letters on top up fees

March 20, 2004 Two letters in the new BMJ discuss the adverse effects topup fees will have on medical students, one suggesting that fees could be waived for those who spend their whole careers in the NHS and the other suggesting that the ability to take on debt may become more significant than ability in admissions.

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BioMed Central announce Biomedical Digital Libraries

BioMed Central have announced a new journal title, Biomedical Digital Libraries to "provide a forum for discussion of the unique considerations of biomedical information needs, and both opportunities and constraints presented by health care settings."

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