Introduction: This study examined postgraduate specialty training of Kuwaiti medical graduates during 1968 to 1999 and identified their attained professional qualifications to reveal scarcity in some specialties. Method: A survey was carried out involving review of the records maintained at the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialization (KIMS)…

Faculty status and tenure for academic librarians are topics of continuous discussion. The rationales for having a tenure system have relevance for librarians but affect librarians differently than they do other faculty. A well-conceived tenure system can enhance a library's vitality and effectiveness, but maintaining the system requires…

Case studies of three children who participated in the play program at Auckland Hospital in New Zealand are presented. About a third of the children admitted to the hospital have access to the play program, but only a few are able to participate in individual sessions with a hospital play specialist. The first case study described in this report…

The predictive validity of scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Part I and Part II examinations for the selection of residents in orthopaedic surgery was investigated. Use of NBME scores has been criticized because of the time lag between taking Part I and entering residency and because Part I content is not directly linked to…

A study examined characteristics of female medical students who indicated an intention to specialize in surgery, traditionally a male-dominated field. Family backgrounds, career motivations, and career orientations from this group were compared with the same characteristics of female medical students selecting other fields of specialization. Data…

The American Association of Dental Schools' Curriculum Guidelines include an introduction to the discipline and its interrelationships with other disciplines, prerequisites, a core content outline, specific behavioral objectives, and notes on sequencing and faculty. (MSE)

A study of rotating interns' images of medical practitioners focuses on what images the interns have of obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians, internists, psychiatrists, and surgeons, and seeks to determine whether these images differ according to choice of specialty for postgraduate work. (JMD)

Ten children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults implanted with cochlear implants exhibited substantial postoperative benefits in open-set speech perception, with some improvement in closed-set speech recognition. Results are discussed with reference to such variables as age at onset of loss, duration of profound loss, age at…

A study investigated the availability of each of 19 medical school support services offered by 493 residencies in 6 specialties: family practice; internal medicine; obstetrics/gynecology; pediatrics; psychiatry; and surgery. Results show many specialties do not offer common, effective support services. It is suggested that programs move to…

Individuals (n=45) with mild, moderate, or no mental retardation were provided brief descriptions of medical, behavioral, and pharmacologic treatments requiring informed consent. Interviews with the subjects provided reliable determinations about capability, with high levels of interrater agreement. The likelihood of being determined capable to…

To provide a systematic means of selecting hearing-impaired children for cochlear implants, the Children's Implant Profile has been developed for use by teams of educational staff. The profile assesses 11 factors, such as speech and language abilities, family support, and cognitive learning style. A case study illustrates the process. (PB)

A study investigated the effect of participation in an intensive internal medicine conference series during a third-year medicine clerkship (n=173 students) on medical licensing examination scores and compared this with scores in surgery and pediatrics and scores of 466 students not participating in the conference. Better test performance on the…

Two previously studied cohorts of women with nonmetastatic breast cancer (Ns = 230 and 136) were reexamined. Participants were assessed during the year after surgery and 5-8 years later. Associations were examined between benefit finding (BF) and several indicators of psychosocial adjustment (e.g., perceived quality of life, positive affect,…

This report evaluates a Department of Defense (DOD) demonstration program that would provide trauma care training for military medical personnel through one or more public or nonprofit hospitals. Specifically, it examines DOD's actions to meet legislative requirements of the demonstration program; identifies other initiatives aimed at training…

Cochlear implants have tremendous potential to aid profoundly deaf students in achieving competency in using spoken communication. Children with cochlear implants do not perceive sound in the same way as normal hearing individuals do, and realizing their potential requires long-term intensive instruction and the utilization of a multidisciplinary…