In an attempt to focus student attention on interpersonal aspects of medical practice, 31 students were trained to present the history and symptoms of an actual patient and then visited 11 physicians to get help for their "problem." Follow-up discussions were held to evaluate the physician-patient relationship. (LBH)

A technique to teach first-year medical students to conduct brief interviews that focus on how medical illness affects the daily life of patients is described. The technique includes a conceptual model of the interview and an explicit teaching method for instructors and students. (Author/MLW)

Emphasizes the usefulness of integrating communicative and literary analyses to study the symbolic and pragmatic aspects of human relationships. Describes a health care course that teaches practitioner-patient communication through the application of communication theory to literary "case studies." Uses a scene from "The Elephant…

Five strategies for teaching medical students in the ambulatory care setting are described: wave scheduling; orienting learners to patients; having learners do case presentations in the examination room; using the "one-minute preceptor"; and reflecting on teaching to develop effective teaching scripts. The techniques are based on…

This module, one of six on teaching consumer matters to low-income groups, focuses on health care alternatives. It provides helpers of low-income people in Virginia with a composite of information in the areas of traditional health care, alternatives to the traditional methods, insurance, medications, and fraudulent practices. At the end of each…

A functional approach to language teaching begins with knowing how students intend to use the foreign language for specific purposes and in specific situations. Instructors of medical Spanish can begin by determining the specific language functions that their students must be able to express when communicating with Hispanic patients, by means of a…