A new national study shows that while many emergency medical services (EMS) agencies across the United States are well-equipped to care for children, important gaps remain in training, quality improvement, and coordination of care before young patients reach the hospital.

Medical, dental and master’s students in biomedical sciences frequently take standardized, multiple-choice question tests to assess their foundational knowledge. Reasons for its widespread use include reliability, efficiency, low cost and when the questions are well-constructed, high accuracy. However, multiple choice questions may present challenges for test-takers when they contain item writing flaws (flawed, ambiguous, or poorly constructed test questions) that can potentially compromise the fairness and validity of the assessment.

New research, led by scientists at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, suggests that an increased number of total flaws in questions could lead to disadvantages among lower-performing students, not because the content is more difficult, but rather that these students may be less able to navigate item writing flaws.

Adolescents are chronically sleep deprived on school days, which negatively impacts their well-being and ability to learn. A new study conducted by the University of Zurich and the University Children’s Hospital Zurich reveals that a flexible start to the school day can improve adolescents’ sleep, health and academic performance.