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Increasing demand for palliative care necessitates effective training for nursing students in end-of-life (EOL) and advanced care planning (ACP). Conventional teaching methods often fall short. A single-arm pre-post design involved 219 nursing students in VR and SP simulations. Quantitative measures and qualitative feedback were obtained. Statistical analysis revealed significant improvement post-intervention (p < 0.001). Qualitative feedback highlighted realism, interactivity, and skill development. Challenges included emotional intensity and scenario repetition. Combining virtual reality (VR) and simulated participant (SP) simulation significantly enhances nursing students' confidence and communication for end-of-life (EOL) conversations, offering a realistic educational experience. Further research is recommended in understanding this teaching method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Health professions students rated Tag Team Simulation useful for their learning. • Simulation co-designed with Aboriginal partners for health professions education. • Cultural capabilities and interprofessional attitudes improved post-simulation. To facilitate inclusive healthcare and increase cultural capabilities, health professions students require authentic interprofessional learning experiences that challenge their social, professional, and historical positioning. Tag Team Simulation (TTS) is an innovative approach to develop students' interprofessional collaboration and cultural competency for working with Aboriginal people. Co-designed and delivered by Aboriginal people and an interdisciplinary team of health professions academics, this pilot aimed to: (a) evaluate the effect of TTS on students' self-rated cultural capabilities (Cultural Capabilities Measurement Tool) and interprofessional attitudes (Interprofessional Attitude Scale), and (b) explore students' simulation learning experience. Students' respect, communication, and safety and quality scores on the Cultural Capabilities Measurement Tool were significantly higher post simulation, as were their Interprofessional Attitude Scale scores. Students experienced the simulation as authentic and effective in advancing their communication skills and cultural understanding. This co-designed interprofessional simulation improved health professions students' self-rated cultural capabilities and interprofessional attitudes. Coupled with positive student feedback, results indicate that TTS is an innovative simulation method for building cultural competence in health professions students across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 3.1 aims to reduce maternal mortality worldwide to 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, which requires greater skilled birth attendant (SBA) coverage and increased health awareness. By evaluating relevant sociodemographic factors, this study aimed to identify different groups of women who lack health awareness and access to SBA services in eight selected low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) of South and South-East Asia (SSEA), namely, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Timor-Leste. Nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) on women aged 15–49 years were analysed with a pooled sample of 95,521. Complex survey-adjusted logistic regression models were fitted to assess sociodemographic factors, SBA coverage, and health awareness. Women with higher health awareness were 44.4% (95% CI:1.32–1.58, p <0.001) more likely to access SBAs compared to the rest. Women and/or their partners with no or primary-level education, who were poorer, became young mothers (≤20 years), not involved in decision-making, or hardly exposed to media were less likely to seek SBAs and have higher health awareness. Women in rural areas with more children were also less likely to use SBAs. Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Nepal underperformed on SBA coverage amongst the selected LMICs of the SSEA region. Health education and mass-media-driven awareness could be an interventional avenue for LMICs to increase SBA coverage. Future studies comparing health policies within the SSEA region are required to identify reasons behind some nations' underperformance, while others are on track to achieve SDG 3.1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is one of the most widely used layered manufacturing technology in various industries due to its capability to create complex parts at the lowest cost. But when it comes to the mechanical properties, the advantage of FDM is not ideal for every application. This is due to the fact that the mechanical properties of the fabricated parts by FDM strongly related to the fabrication parameters in which the material is being processed, and so how to improve them is worthy of study. Many researchers have examined the influence of varying parameters on the characteristics of FDM manufactured prototypes. FDM manufactured parts are always subjected to static and dynamic loading conditions in a wide range of industries. However, former researches only focused on the mechanical properties under static loading conditions, but none of them provided a systematic study on the effect of FDM fabrication parameters on the mechanical performance under thermal-mechanical cyclic loading. This study investigates the effect of manufacturing parameters on dynamic mechanical performance of the processed parts by FDM through computer-generated optimal design based on I-optimal design. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to study the microstructures of some specimens. The results show that dynamic mechanical performance of the manufactured parts is greatly influenced by processing conditions. The results also show that computer-generated optimal design based on I-optimal design is superior over the conventional experimental designs as it is able to simultaneously consider several factors at different levels with less number of experiments than traditional designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a growing 3D printing technique widely practiced around the world in various industrial applications because of its ability to create complex 3D objects and geometries. Reduction of build time and feedstock material consumption without compromising the mechanical performance is the major concern in most industrial applications affecting the cost and the functionality of the manufactured part. One of the key issues of FDM process is how to select the correct parameters to reduce the build time and to reduce feedstock material consumption while maintaining high dynamic mechanical properties. In this study, influence of critical FDM parameters—layer thickness, air gap, raster angle, build orientation, road width, and number of contours—are studied using Q-optimal response surface methodology. Their effects on build time, feedstock material consumption and dynamic flexural modulus are critically examined. Mathematical models have been formulated to develop a functional relationship between the processing conditions and the process quality characteristics. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique was employed to check the adequacy and significance of mathematical models. Moreover, the optimal setting of process parameters was determined. A confirmation test was also conducted in order to verify the developed models and the optimal settings. The results show that Q-optimal design is a very promising method in FDM process parameter optimization. The results also confirm the adequacy of the developed models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the widely used additive manufacturing technologies because it has flexibility and ability to build complex parts. The accuracy of parts fabricated by FDM is greatly influenced by various process parameters. FDM process has a complex mechanism in building parts and often poses difficulty in understanding adequately how conflicting FDM parameters will determine part quality and accuracy. Sectors such as medical implant, telecommunication, electronics and aerospace require increasingly higher levels of dimensional accuracy. Thus, traditional methods of ensuring quality do not effectively address global markets and customer’s needs. This study proposes an I-optimality criterion for the optimization of FDM process parameters in order to address the limitations of the commonly used traditional designs. This study also aims to develop mathematical models in order to establish nonlinear relationship between process parameters and dimensional accuracy. The results show that I-optimality criterion is very promising technique in FDM process parameter optimization. Confirmation experiments show that the proposed method has great advantages in the aspect of both accuracy and efficiency compared with traditional methods proposed in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]