This paper addresses one of the major confusions in the study and practice of problem-based learning today, namely the use of the term "problem-based learning" to refer to both the small-group tutorial method pioneered by McMaster University and Maastricht University in medical education, and the problem-oriented project-work method…

Ongoing continuing medical education is an essential component of life-long learning and can have a positive influence on patient outcomes. However, some evidence suggests that continuing medical education has not fulfilled its potential as a performance improvement (PI) tool, in part due to a paradigm of CME that has focused on the quantity of…

Objective: The author describes a program for psychiatric residents in evaluating patients with paraphilic disorders. Methods: The program curriculum offers clinical education in paraphilic disorders and is organized by various perspectives within psychiatry, including the disease model, the life story, the dimensional perspective, and the…

Walk into any school in America and you will see adults who care deeply about their students and are doing the best they can every day to help students learn. But you will also see a high degree of variability among classrooms--much higher than in most other industrialized countries. Today we are asking schools to do something they have never done…

In 1997, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio established the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) for the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. Through medical education programs, research facilities, and partnerships with health-care providers, the RAHC aims to improve the health status and access to health services…

With the introduction of humanistic perspectives in the curricula of medical schools in recent years, the role of medical history in education warrants reassessment. Examines the reasons for giving medical students an historical perspective and presents a model of the program in use at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. (Editor/PG)

This document includes a successful model for implementing educational teleconferencing, the Geriatric Live Interactive Teleconferencing program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). As a vehicle for continuing professional education, teleconferencing can transmit the latest information to large numbers of health professionals in a variety of…

The primary goal of the fellowship program at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine is the production of the next generation of physician-scientists. An outline of the program is provided. Recent graduates have been recruited by leading academic institutions. (MLW)

David McK. Lawrence discusses the objectives, program components, strengths, and weaknesses of the MEDEX training model, an attempt to bridge the gap between academe and practicing physicians for the new health practitioners. Robert E. Jewet describes background, program highlights, and key issues in the physicians assistant (PA) training…

Because of the difficulty in instructing students in pediatric physical examination and because of the previously proven usefulness of simulators in medical education, Indiana University School of Medicine has developed a family of infant simulators for use in their pediatric education program. Four models are discribed. (LBH)

A program for the initial pediatric evaluation and management of sexually abused children is offered as one possible model for other training centers. Cases of 100 sexually abused children (mean age 9.2 years) seen by pediatric residents are reviewed. Journal availability: American Medical Association, 535 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois…

The article describes the development of the first of a series of courses to update nurses' knowledge and skills. Discussed are: personnel survey, course development, objectives, speakers, instructional methods (multimedia approach), class scheduling and publicity, student evaluation, approval for continuing education units, and positive response…

Describes and illustrates the use of a model used at the University of Vermont College of Medicine to examine both financial implications and effect on faculty effort of any planned programmatic changes, e.g. effect of specific enrollment increase on basic sciences and clinical training departments. (JT)

A program providing successful peer tutoring in nine of 10 basic science courses in the first two years of medical school is described, and the management of such a program is discussed. Positive program effects on both tutors and students in academic difficulty are emphasized. (MSE)

The need for teaching doctors how to counsel and impart coping skills techniques to their patients is discussed. The cognitive-experiential underpinnings of a course in medical counseling given to last preclinical-year medical students in the University of Queensland is outlined. (MLW)