The University of Cincinnati Department of Internal Medicine instituted a peer review moonlighting committee of residents to design departmental guidelines, document work activities, identify discrepancies, and initiate control policies. Results suggest such a program may help establish mutually acceptable work activity guidelines while…

A study with 137 third-year medical students found little correlation between students' self-assessments of clinical skills before and after their clerkships and external skill indicators (grades, test scores, and faculty ratings). These results are similar to those of previous studies. (Author/MSE)

The usefulness of the Glaxo Pathway Evaluation Program, a program of workshops to help medical students choose specialties, was evaluated in a survey of 237 participating seniors. Students found the program moderately useful. The researchers found the program a useful, comprehensive, and reasonably objective tool. Long-term effects were not…

The theoretical model of medical student performance begins with 38 measures, reduced to 18 without loss of information. These measures are shown to reflect five underlying theoretical interrelated variables: medical knowledge; clinical performance; science aptitude; college achievement; and attitudes and values. Results should be useful in…

An attempt to replicate a previous study suggesting the dimension of intimacy-isolation predicts medical student speciality choice by using a new generation of medical students (N=203) and a new generation of well-validated personality measures failed to find support for the hypothesis. (MLW)

A study of 54 first-year Marshall University (West Virginia) medical students found that a preventive cardiology curriculum improved both knowledge of and attitudes about preventive cardiology in general and on all 4 subscales (epidemiological evidence, risk factor characteristics, pathophysiology, primary interventions). (Author/MSE)

A study investigated, first, the percentage of medical students maintaining interest in obstetrics/gynecology during medical school compared to those maintaining interest in other specialties and, second, changes of interest from obstetrics/gynecology to other specialties and other specialties to obstetrics/gynecology. Results indicate instability…

Surveyed 196 medical college seniors about changes in the health-care system. Of the respondents, 79% believed that cost reduction rather than quality of care is the primary consideration behind recent changes, and 78% thought that managed-care organizations hamper physician ability in rendering optimal care. Discusses implications for curricular…

Examines the effects of database assistance on clinical problem solving across three cohorts of medical students and two database interfaces. Discusses the relationship between personal domain knowledge and problem solving, personal domain knowledge and database searching, and comparisons of different interface styles in information retrieval…

Examines the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Finds evidence of a differential diagnosis frame to organize the group's diagnostic inquiry procedures; coconstruction of explanatory case models linking causes to clinical symptoms through interactive discussion; processes of collaborative reasoning in evaluating alternative…

Examines the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Offers a sociocultural analysis of the data segment, focusing on the complex agendas pursued by the medical students. Explores the multiple agendas confronting a "transition community," the intra-space and inter-personal issues, and the role of the coach in transition…

Comments on a set of five analyses of the discourse of a problem-based learning group in medicine. Discusses how the five articles take a first step toward resolving a critical issue of learning theory: understanding the boundary between common sense and technical forms of reasoning, action, and discourse; and by what means students grow from…

Several existing group-based statistics to detect improbable item score patterns are discussed, along with the cut scores proposed in the literature to classify an item score pattern as aberrant. A simulation study and an empirical study are used to compare the statistics and their use and to investigate the practical use of cut scores. (SLD)

Describes and evaluates the reflecting team approach with family practice residents to teach interviewing skills, systems-oriented psychosocial interventions, and patient behavioral health consultations. Questionnaire responses of 18 family practice residents participating in a longitudinal behavioral health program at the University of Arizona…

Describes and evaluates a teaching initiative in evidence-based medical care in McGill University's family practice residency program. Discusses results of pre- and post-course self-assessments by students, which indicated significant increases in skill at formulating clinical questions and searching for evidence-based answers, appraising reviews,…