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)

A two-week elective to introduce medical students to primary care internal medicine was developed and evaluated. Course time is divided between conference sessions and office experience. Evaluations by students consisted of a questionnaire of conference topics, the student's ability to carry out course objectives, and the preceptor's teaching…

The University of Hawaii developed an assessment and testing program for qualifying internal medicine residents in basic procedural skills: an observation period, a multiple-choice examination, and a slide-identification examination. The mean scores of both examinations were analyzed to assess whether curriculum changes were effective. (Author/MLW)

The experience of two combined residency programs in internal medicine and pediatrics is reviewed. The difficulty for residents of achieving competence in two disciplines is compounded by a lack of faculty role models. Success will depend on the ability of graduates to offer special talents to academic and clinical settings. (Author/MLW)