An Oregon program is described in which physicians in training are incorporated into a faculty private practice clinic. The model encourages efficiency, overhead control, and appropriate staffing; it also provides a useful learning experience in the ambulatory care setting and compensates faculty members for their additional time spent teaching.…

Two studies involving a total of 99 experts examined the reproducibility of standards for 2 medical certifying examinations set under different conditions. Together, results of both studies provide evidence that a modified version of the Angoff method is quite reliable and produces stable results under varying conditions. (SLD)

Selection data for all Medical University of South Carolina anesthesiology residency applicants (about 200 per year) and the 8 selected per year were compared for 4 years. Results showed standardized test scores, grades, and class ranks of those selected were not higher than of others, but interview and recommendation scores were higher.…

Describes a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that analyzed the transaction logs of medical students' searches of a factual database to determine the overall frequency of search moves, the interaction between the problem statement and students' search strategies, the search moves selected, and the tactics used by students.…

Surveys of first- and fourth-year Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) medical students found little change in attitudes about abortion over four years. Attitudes correlated most strongly with personal beliefs about when a fetus is considered human life and somewhat with student gender. Results are used in a medical ethics course to illuminate…

A study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY) found that performance on examinations during the third month of medical school was highly predictive of performance during the first two years of medical school. This predictor was more powerful than Medical College Admission Test scores and/or undergraduate grade point averages in…

Comparison of opinions of residents in two programs providing different amounts of geriatric training concerning management of four geriatric and two traditional internal medicine problems found all had less confidence about geriatric than traditional problems. Students with more training offered more support for nondiscriminatory care of elderly…

Discussion of computer-based testing (CBT) focuses on the development of the database format question (DFQ) which allows the user to build up a more complex answer than multiple choice by selecting items from a database presented on the computer screen. Programing is explained and an evaluation of DFQ is included. (Seven references) (LRW)

A survey with a list of 31 words that are commonly used as scale labels for the evaluation of medical student performance was mailed to 132 instructors who teach in family practice preceptorships. Data analysis consisted of generating median, twenty-fifth percentile, and seventy-fifth percentile values for each label. (MLW)

Comparison of the beliefs and attitudes of a sample of pediatric residents (n=56) and practicing physicians (n=1,500) concerning children with insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus and the disease itself found residents in their second and third years of training considerably more negative about both than physicians or first-year residents.…

A Finnish university medical school precedes its cadaver dissection course with lectures on death, dissection, and psychological response. Student surveys reveal that the lectures have created an awareness that has helped them through difficult situations and prevented dissipation of energy through emotional reaction. Long-term benefits are also…

Examined whether expert raters (n=5) could agree about classification of Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) items and whether they agreed with MCAT student manual in labeling skill being measured by each test item. Results revealed difficulties in replicating authors' labeling of skills for reading items on practice test provided with 1991 MCAT…

In a preliminary ethnographic study, the developmental tasks of 23 first-year and 20 fourth-year medical students were assessed with reference to practical problem solving. Findings provide direct support for a relationship between practical intellectual development and life course contexts. (SLD)

Assesses the quality of tutorial sessions in the problem-based learning curriculum that was adopted at the University of Tampere in Finland. (Author/CCM)

Describes Students Teaching AIDS to Students (STATS), a program that involved medical students teaching middle and high school students about AIDS and HIV, focusing on its implementation in one New Jersey school district. STATS required one classroom period to address HIV/AIDS prevalence, prevention, and common questions and misconceptions, and it…