Liaison between departments and disciplines has been achieved at the University of Minnesota, where the teaching of the basics of psychiatry relating to medical practice has been the responsibility of the faculty of the Department of Medicine. Benefits to staff and residents are discussed. (LBH)

An institutional strategy that permits consideration of sociomedical issues in some depth throughout the undergraduate curriculum at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine is discussed. In the freshman year, each student is required to choose one of eight seminars, or "selectives." (Author/MLW)

A 4-year effort at Yale University School of Medicine to teach toxicology as an elective basic science from the standpoint of organ-specific toxic effects is described. The objective of the successful multidisciplinary program is to prepare physicians to understand, recognize, and manage adverse effects from drugs and other environmental…

The planning and development of interdisciplinary education for health associates at Johns Hopkins University are described by Malcolm L. Peterson. (Includes training of an interdisciplinary team of practitioners by an interdisciplinary team of teachers.) Walter O. Spitzer compares Canadian and U.S. experience in such interdisciplinary education…

To assist faculty involved in cancer education in various courses in the curriculum, rather than instituting a new course in oncology, a method was developed for identifying and assessing cancer-related content (a clinical clerk attended lectures, interviewed instructors, reviewed syllibi etc.) and a comprehensive description was produced and…

Results of a survey of all U.S. and Canadian medical schools concerning the extent and nature of instruction in dental topics for medical students also revealed the perceived importance of including such instruction in the undergraduate medical curriculum and barriers to teaching dental topics to medical students. (MSE)

The Mid-America Cancer Center Program has developed a comprehensive approach for evaluating the cancer education curriculum at the University of Kansas Medical Center. The project included a review of all cancer-related teaching objectives and the development of an interdepartmental oncology curriculum. (JMD)

Experience at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey suggests that consumer health education can be incorporated into a medical school curriculum. It can be included in the existing courses in occupational medicine, behavioral sciences, and psychiatry and other preclinical and clinical areas. (LBH)

Track II is a self-elective, five-term interdisciplinary program whose preclinical curriculum involves using patient problems as themes to allow students to integrate basic concepts and skills of biomedical and behavioral-social sciences. Its aim is to direct medical students toward a lifelong commitment to comprehensive patient care, continuing…

Since there is a growing emphasis on the behavioral and psychological aspects of health and illness in pediatric practice, training programs must expose future primary care provides to behavioral and developmental issues. An interdisciplinary training model developed at Rochester's Department of Pediatrics is described. (Author/LBH)

The curricular response of colleges to conflict among scientific and medical experts regarding the application of professional knowledge and technical expertise to public policy and patient care is examined. An alternative philosophy of education is proposed. Reform is seen as impossible without redefining the liberal arts tradition of…

The curriculum of the General Internal Medicine Residency at the University of California, San Diego, has been designed to prepare graduates for the practice of general as opposed to subspecialty internal medicine. Relevant psychobehavioral topics are incorporated and residents are exposed to long-term management of psychiatric patients. (LBH)