This qualitative study investigated how students adapt to medical school. Thirty-six medical students completed an e-mail survey exploring the transition from pre-medical to medical education, the use of learning strategies, and self-regulated learning practices. Their responses highlighted the challenges of medical education and the learning…

This study examined students' experiences of university medical education, approaches to learning, and comprehension of learning tasks. It used semi-structured interviews with 60 preclinical and clinical medical students. Half of the students attended Gothenburg University (Sweden), which employed a conventional discipline-based curriculum, while…

Problem-based learning (PBL) as a new instructional method is becoming increasingly popular. PBL is hypothesized to have a number of advantages for learning because it applies insights from cognitive learning theory and it fosters a lifelong learning strategy. As in all learning programs there are individual differences between students. This…

This background paper, prepared by two members of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Strengthening the Geriatric Content of Medical Education, addresses the progress made in physicians' geriatric and gerontological education. The report appears in six chapters. After a brief introduction on health care reform and medical education, geriatric…

This study illustrates the use of three least-squares models to control for rater effects in performance evaluation: (1) ordinary least squares (OLS); (2) weighted least squares (WLS); and (3) OLS subsequent to applying a logistic transformation to observed ratings (LOG-OLS). The three models were applied to ratings obtained from four…

In an attempt to replicate an earlier study by H. G. Schmidt, H. P. A. Boshuizen, and P. P. M. Hobus (1988), 96 students and physicians at the University of Limburg (Netherlands) studied 4 clinical cases, produced a diagnosis, and recalled each case. Subjects were 24 second-year, 24 fourth-year, and 24 sixth-year medical students and 24 internists…

This report includes detailed statistical tables concerning minorities attending medical school with emphasis on the underrepresented minorities (URM) consisting of Mexican Americans, mainland Puerto Ricans, American Indians, and Blacks. The report covers the following topics: medical school applicants, medical school acceptances, new entrants,…

Student ratings of teaching effectiveness and course quality are widely used to evaluate most university courses. This study investigated the relationship of medical students' ratings of basic science course characteristics to their overall evaluation of these courses. Whether the relationship was similar across basic science courses, and whether…

During the decade of the 1980s, rapid changes in the nature of medical practice and in patterns of health care delivery confronted medical educators with many challenges. At the Medical College of Wisconsin these challenges led to the design and implementation of the 2-year longitudinal experience called the Profession of Medicine Program (POMP)…

The construct validity of the standardized-patient (SP) examination used at Southern Illinois University (Springfield) School of Medicine was assessed by comparing 66 second-year and 70 fourth-year medical students on 5 SP cases. The results show sizable differences between the groups. The usefulness of passing rates the effect-size measures as a…

In the present study, task instruction and lab data format were manipulated to explain the discrepancy between the positive linear recall function with expertise (reported by van de Wiel and others, 1993), and the generally found intermediate effect in clinical case recall. Sixteen second-year medical students, 16 fourth-year students, and 16…

The cognitive processes that underlie a medical student's improved competence during the clerkship (clinical experience) portion of medical education were studied for high- and low-achieving medical students in the Netherlands. Nine low-achieving and 21 high-achieving fourth-year students and 10 low-achieving and 14 high-achieving fifth-year…

This longitudinal study investigates the growth of medical achievement as a multilevel process and emphasizes the structure of the growth. Subjects were students in all 15 U.S. osteopathic medical schools, a total of 1,060 (78 percent of the 1987 osteopathic cohort). Students took appropriate portions of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical…

Prediction of clinical performance of medical students in the clerkship phase was made possible in the earliest phase of medical education by a comprehensive and integrative evaluation instrument entitled "Integrative Examination" (INTEX). A proportional sample of the content learned throughout the year is integrated for measuring…

An attending tutor program designed to increase faculty-student contact within an Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship was evaluated. Sessions were observed, written documents were reviewed, and faculty and students were interviewed in order to determine if the program was meeting its goals. Based on the evaluation data, the program was…