Outlines the efforts of the Department of General Practice to develop a clear educational philosophy on which to build its curriculum. Also illustrates the application of this philosophy in developing a community-based early clinical contact course for first-year students. The philosophy was constructed from the basis of whole-person medicine and…

The current emphasis in medical education is on engaging learners in deep processing of information to achieve better understanding of the subject matter. Traditional approaches aimed for memorization of medical facts; however, a good memory for medical facts is still essential in clinical practice. This study demonstrates that deep information…

Explains structurally based therapeutic evaluation of drugs, which uses seven therapeutic criteria in translating chemical and structural knowledge into therapeutic decision making in pharmaceutical care. In a Creighton University (Nebraska) medicinal chemistry course, students apply the approach to solve patient-related therapeutic problems in…

Described is a curriculum for a pathology class offered to eleventh and twelfth graders. Included are suggestions for laboratory activities and student projects. These activities can be incorporated into other science classes. (KR)

Harvard Medical School's integration of a curriculum on health promotion and disease prevention is described. The case method was used for all teaching in the curriculum. Students worked together in small groups, addressing the issues raised by each case under the direction of faculty preceptors. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the ethical aspects of screening and testing for clinical detection of individuals infected with asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Careful consideration must be given to individuals' rights, respect for their privacy, and society's obligations to provide needed clinical and social services in translating cautious medical…

Item response theory's (IRT) suitability for medical examination data was examined, using data on 2,000 candidates who took the 1980 and 1982 American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examinations. Focus was on determining whether the tests met IRT assumptions and applying one-parameter and three-parameter IRT models to the data. (TJH)

Described are applications of computers in the field of medicine, including patient monitoring, patient treatment, patient imaging, patient therapy, and rehabilitation. (YP)

Focuses on the immunization status of children aged 19 to 35 months. Recommended immunizations are described and contrasted with the actual status of immunization. In response to unacceptably low levels of immunization among very young children, the government is aiming at 90% immunization by the year 2000. (SLD)

A study investigated performance of 51 second-year internal medicine residents on an objective structured clinical examination and analyzed the test's role in evaluating clinical competence. The examination included nine physical diagnoses and several test-interpretation stations. Performance was analyzed statistically and correlated with…

Discusses the current state of the art in virtual reality (VR), its historical background, and future possibilities. Highlights include applications in medicine, art and entertainment, science, business, and telerobotics; and VR for information science, including graphical display of bibliographic data, libraries and books, and cyberspace.…

The University of Illinois at Chicago's College of Medicine has implemented a pilot interdisciplinary generalist program. This paper discusses the program's setting, management, curriculum, instruction, and student and program evaluation. The difficulties and procedures in making room for an interdisciplinary primary care program in a traditional…

The University of Minnesota internal medicine residency program of ambulatory general medicine rotations in rural communities and urban managed care settings is described. Development and structure of rotations, objectives, teaching strategies, faculty development, evaluation system, and elements of successful implementation are discussed.…

Discusses the development and initial implementation of the "Every Child by Two" project. The project is designed to immunize as many newborn through two-year-old children in the United States as possible against communicable childhood diseases, such as measles, and to create a program to systematically immunize this age group in the…

Ideas for integrating preventive medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum include options for curricula in quantitative skills, clinical preventive medicine, primary care rotation, community health services, and independent continuing education. Recommendations are based on a guide assessing the effectiveness of 169 types of preventive…