This study investigated the influence of social support on a person's career choice and its impact on later achievement, testing the hypotheses that social support that pressures a person into entering a given field will lead to lower achievement, and that social support that contributes to the person's development of a professional identity will…

The purpose of this study was to determine when an initial specialty choice is made during medical school, what specialty is chosen, and the consistency and change of specialty choices considered in relation to the specialty decisions expressed in the National Intern and Resident Matching Program. (Author/PG)

Two main objectives were set by the group of eight students and an instructor the exploration of feelings and attitudes by the student toward his own dying and death and an appreciation of what the experience of dying is like in order to facilitate the development of the student's sensitivity to the needs of the dying patient and his family.…

To better understand the medical internship, a required and critical part of the educational preparation of young physicians, and its relevance for their future careers, the experience of interns on the Harvard Medical Service at the Boston City Hospital was documented. The principal method used to gather information was participation in and…

Ninety-eight medical students rated themselves and their fellow students using the Physician Performance Rating Scale (PPRS). Two factors were studied: a knowledge factor (judgement, ability) and a relationship factor (appearance, interpersonal relationships, ability to communicate). Reliability between peer and self ratings was significant but…

Currently, there is not a single university medical center in which an acceptable routine system to assure quality of care has been established. This may result from reliance on the structure of the medical education process as a proxy measure to assure that physicians perform appropriately in their role. Several studies have been conducted to…

Medical students enrolled in an introductory psychiatry course were randomly assigned to one of 2 training conditions. One group received microcounseling training for Attending Behavior, Open-Ended Questions, Minimal Activity, Paraphrases, Reflection of Feeling, and Summarizations. The controls received whatever training their supervisors…

Traditional undergraduate liberal arts courses, required of most premedical and predental students, have failed dismally to motivate doctors and dentists to become concerned with the health problems of the poor, be they black or white. Examination of black studies programs leads the authors to believe that these programs, if planned with the…

One of the results of almost 2 decades of research and theoretical development in the area of professional socialization has been the focusing of interest on the evaluation of interpersonal influences upon students in professional schools. Based on data from the first 2 years of a 6-year longitudinal study of students at a new dental school, this…

An audio technique uses contemporary music recordings to illustrate various personality disorders, including: schizoid, paranoid, compulsive, antisocial, and hysterical. The works of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Harry Chapin, the Beatles, Janis Ian, James Taylor, Tammy Wynette, and others are cited. (LBH)

Levels of test anxiety were compared: (1) among first-year medical students, college students, and high school students; (2) between August and January for first-year medical students; and (3) between male and female first-year medical students. (MLW)

A study compared the empathic skill levels of 14 (of 18) physician assistant students and 72 (of 170) medical students. It also examined students' self-perceptions of their skill levels. Medical students rated themselves lower than the observers, while physician assistant students rated themselves the same as the observers. Observers rated…