In an attempt to assure informed consent and basic patients' rights, and to instruct patient volunteers about the teaching-patient role and its importance to effective medical education, a nonphysician patient-advocate-interviewer (PAI) model was developed. The usefulness of the model is evaluated. (Author/MLW)

To determine whether objective test items could measure cognitive processes more complex than recall of isolated facts, the committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons preparing the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination classified test items into three taxonomic levels according to the cognitive process required to answer the item.…

Evaluation data on Basic Clinical Psychiatry, a four week required clerkship of the University of Pennsylvania, are presented. The results of the evaluation suggest that, in spite of negative attitudes, student ratings of psychiatry courses can be consistent with measures of cognitive growth and sensitive to educational methods and design.…

Changes in attitudes of first-year medical students after a seminar on aging and health are described. Students' attitudes toward the elderly were assessed before and one year after the seminar. Factors in changing attitudes were: factual information, personal contact with sick and well elderly, and personal contact with role models. (Author/MLW)

Over 13 weeks during two periods in 1978 the diagnostic rate for acute otitis media was monitored among febrile children in the emergency room of a large children's hospital. Temporal variation in diagnostic rates by physicians was largely attributable to differences among individual providers and independent of level of training. (Author/MLW)

The chronologic dimension of continuity of physician care (repeat visits to the same provider) is examined. This continuity is measured by the number of repeat visits to trainees under multiple time intervals of trainee exposure; part-time schedule is compared with full-time exposure. (MLW)

Recent court cases are cited that indicate courts are now beginning to require that students be informed of academic (including clinical) deficiencies and be provided the opportunity to correct the problem. When the dismissal is for disciplinary rather than academic reasons, more procedural due process is required. (Author/MLW)

A system for evaluating clinical competency of residents was designed to test expert opinions as well as the skills of the practitioner. Four measures of clinical competency were included: data collection completeness; problem identification accuracy; interview skills; and patient and physician assessment. (Author/MH)

A Johns Hopkins School of Medicine symposium on Women Physicians in Contemporary Society is summarized. Although a growing number of women are entering the profession, they are particularly vulnerable to the competing pressures of career, marriage, and child care. (JMF)

To explore the antecedents of emotional distress among physicians, the relationship between year in medical school and student attitude toward seeking professional psychological help was investigated using students at the University of Southern California. For women, no attitudinal changes were noted; an early, significant positive change was…

In an effort to break down barriers between the medical school and other parts of the university, the University of Rochester selects students to take undergraduate courses simultaneously with preclinical science courses. Academic performance, integration of course work and the depth and breadth of student choices are discussed. (JMD)

Different methods and instruments used to assess medical problem solving are discussed. Various features of the instruments are compared and suggestions for additional data are made, in order to ensure maximum efficiency in the choice of instruments. (Author/MH)

Rochester, New York, physicians and graduate medical students' use of laboratory tests as applied to asymptomatic patients was surveyed and their knowledge of four specific screening procedures was tested. The results reinforce the impression that laboratory ordering practices are dependent in part upon factors other than knowledge of test…

Approximately 370 references are cited in the following areas of medical education: accreditation, computers, continuing education, curriculum, educational measurement, research and evaluation, faculty, foreign graduates, forensic medicine, history, minority groups, foreign education, specialties, teaching methods, etc. (LBH)

A national sample of 25 percent of the graduate education program directors in internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, and pediatrics were asked to judge the importance of 31 variables in the selection of house staff. A rank-ordering of variables for all respondents placed interpersonal skills demonstrated in the interview as number one.…