This paper describes an Elder Specialist Program developed by one school of medicine to sensitize medical students to geriatric psychosocial issues. Elder Specialists participate in panel discussions as part of each geriatric session. As an alternative to traditional senior mentoring programs, the Elder Specialist Program provides all students a…

This study examined first-year medical student attitudes concerning the elderly before and after instituting a geriatric mentoring program. The program began and ended with a survey designed to assess students' attitudes toward the elderly. During the mentoring program, students visited the same senior for four visits throughout the academic year.…

Objective: The authors describe how one child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship program responded to emerging trends in clinical practice which increasingly demand that child and adolescent psychiatrists lead their colleagues through instruction and supervision. Methods: Data from surveys of recent graduates of child and adolescent training…

Describes the successful encouragement of student research provided by the Office of Student Research Opportunities (OSRO) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The OSRO advises students, identifies faculty who want to mentor students, sponsors the Distinction in Research program, organizes an annual research day, helps fund summer and full-time…

Context: Founded in 1971 with state funding to increase the number of primary care physicians in rural Minnesota, the Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) has graduated 1,175 students. Third-year medical students are assigned to primary care physicians in rural communities for 9 months where they experience the realities of rural practice with…

Web-based computer-aided instruction (CAI) has become increasingly important to medical curricula. This multi-year study investigated the effectiveness of CAI and the factors affecting level of individual use. Three CAI were tested that differed in specificity of applicability to the curriculum and in the level of student interaction with the CAI.…

A gross anatomy program was evaluated that shortened the dissection time on the extremities by having half the class dissect either the upper or lower extremity and then study the opposite extremity already dissected by other classmates. Analysis of covariance showed that the program efficiently utilized laboratory time. (MLW)

Since 1974 the University of Louisville has sent medical students to a rural area to receive their core surgical clerkship experience as part of an area health education system program. The first five years of the program and its effect on residency selection are reviewed. (Author/MLW)

The Optimal Aging Program (OAP) at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine is a longitudinal mentoring program that pairs students with older adults who are considered to be aging "successfully." This credit-bearing elective was initially established in 2001 through a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation, and aims to expand…

This report describes a program initiated in 1992 to provide appropriate training for rural physicians and to address the shortage of physicians in rural Australia. Rural medical practice differs dramatically from urban practice in that there is limited access to specialist services in rural areas, thus requiring rural practitioners to be…

The 115 African-American and other nontraditional medical students attending a summer program in study skills and academic preparation to promote achievement and retention were compared with 82 nonattendees on demographic and academic measures. Little difference was found in the groups, except that attendees felt the program helped them adjust to…

Objective: Among psychiatric educators of medical students and residents are those who are referred to as volunteer faculty. Their unpaid status, limited time to devote to teaching, and isolation from most of the core faculty present us with the challenge of better integrating them with the team of educators. The author describes a faculty…