The staff of the University of Colorado Child Health Associate Program critically reviewed the effectiveness of the program's structure and content during an intensive two-day seminar. Focus was on basic and clinical sciences, psychosocial skills, and proficiency testing, and the evaluations were used to improve the program. (Editor/LBH)

Traditionally, nurse practitioners and physician's assistants have been trained separately. In l977, the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of California, Davis, and the Primary Care Associate Program at Stanford University merged clinical curricula. The cooperative program is described and its first year evaluated. (Author/JMD)

The study reported consisted of a preliminary investigation of patterns of interaction between medical and paramedical students in multidisciplinary groups, the composition of which mirrored actual community health teams. (Author/PG)

Practicing physician's assistants in California were surveyed by a mail questionnaire as part of a three-stage longitudinal study. The continued viability of this occupation in terms of worker satisfaction and some of the factors affecting satisfaction were examined. The findings support the continued viability of the occupation. (Author/MLW)

A study of medical students' choice of anesthesiology as a specialty and the quality of clerkships available established several factors in students' choice, including the negative effect of certified registered nurse anesthetists on the operating room floor. A study of relationships with nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and…

The effect of a behavioral sciences course on first-year medical students' attitudes toward social factors as determinants of health or illness, preventive medicine, paramedical cooperation, physician-patient relationships, government role in health care, and general liberalism was found to be minimal immediately after the course. (MSE)

Concern exists over the number of minority students who elect to apply for admission to either medical school or postgraduate programs in the sciences. The High School for the Health Professions in Houston, Texas, a comprehensive academic program with specific learning experiences designed for health-related professions, is described. (MLW)

A program at the University of Southern California in the 1970s successfully used enriched science courses and field experience programs in hospitals and laboratories to recruit inner-city minority high school students to health occupations and the university. (Author/MSE)

The three types of physicians trained in the People's Republic of China (practitioners in Chinese medicine, traditional Mongolian medicine, and western-style medicine) and the design of the medical schools and programs are discussed. (MSE)

"Early outreach" is defined as a long-term, talent-development strategy to prepare a qualified pool of disadvantaged minority applicants for entry into health professions schools. Model programs at the University of Illinois -- Chicago are described. (Author/MLW)