A computer-based review system has been developed, based on the multiple-choice technique, at the University of London for medical students. The user can enter an answer or can have a list of questions to take away and enter later. Student response has been favorable. (LBH)

Orders written by medical residents to be carried out on newly-hospitalized patients were reviewed to determine the frequency of vital signs orders. Subsequent clinical events requiring nurses to contact house officers were determined. Data suggest that physicians should request nurses to use more efficient methods of clinical observation.…

Data concerning time with patients and time with attending physicians tended to be inversely associated with patient volume in a time-study of family practice residents. The results are used to illustrate and develop some issues involved in the design of residency experiences for primary care physicians. (Editor/LBH)

A comparison of the ability of 12 students trained in an outpatient setting to examine hospitalized patients with that of students trained in the traditional inpatient-oriented program revealed no difference between the two groups. This finding has implications for curriculum planners seeking ways to restructure fundamental courses that develop…

The regression model can be used to rank resident candidates prior to interview by systematically assigning weights to the information in the transcript and then summing the weights. Much of the judgment of a residency selection committee can be incorporated in a regression model. (MLW)

A medical school survey examined student and faculty willingness to use computers and the prevalence of the attitudes that computers in medicine are a potential threat to employment, neither convenient nor responsive to physicians' needs, and potentially debasing to the human role in medical practice. (MSE)

An application of confirmatory factor analysis, using the LISREL program, to retrospective analysis of rating data common in health professions education was illustrated. A causal model was specified and tested. Although most measures clustered around latent traits, there was more method variance in the data set than trait variance. (Author/JAZ)

A set of self-assessment instruments in clinical evaluation was developed and tested in 10 pilot medical schools. Clinical faculty members, clerkship coordinators, and residents at affiliated hospitals who worked with medical students were asked to identify problems faced in evaluating students' clinical performance. (Author/MLW)

Examines the way bureaucratic practices and background or schematized knowledge can influence physician-patient and physician-physician interaction and language in medical diagnostic reasoning. Provides a case study that illustrates the bureaucratic processes presupposed in the production and reproduction of knowledge in practical scientific…

A required eight-week rotation in ambulatory medicine at three clinics that included house calls by medical students is described. The students' evaluation of the curriculum provided information on the effectiveness to teaching strategies and the success of transmitting knowledge about the homebound elderly. (Author/MLW)

Bedside teaching was compared with teaching in small-group sessions with required readings. By creating a curriculum that emphasized reading assignments, the designers expected that student performance on a standardized examination would improve. This did not prove to be the case. (MLW)

The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Clinical Evaluation Program, initiated in 1979, is described. Efforts toward improvement of evaluation focused on three tasks: definition of educational objectives, specification of criteria for determining when those objectives are met, and development of methods for assessing individual…

A study that demonstrated that a group of medical residents could independently run microcomputer-based patient simulations and subsequently achieve significant increases in test scores is discussed. This outcome supports the use of computer-assisted instruction to provide a core of self-taught material for a clinical subspecialty rotation.…

The goals, formats, and outcomes of journal clubs in a sample of internal medicine residency programs in New York City were surveyed. The results of the survey and a description of the club in the Department of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center are presented. (Author/MLW)

An overview of substance-abuse education in U.S. medical schools is presented, and three current programs are described. Goals for the future should include some attempt to modify medical schools and hospitals, where patterns leading to physician impairment may develop. (Author/MLW)