In the light of four years of experience, the faculty of Minnesota's Department of Family Practice and Community Health continues to regard practice management as an important area in the training of family practice residents. The process of refinement, both in content and method of presentation, remains a priority. (LBH)

The knowledge encapsulation theory (H. Schmidt and H. Boshuizen, 1992) predicts that experts under certain conditions shift from the use of clinical knowledge to elaborated biomedical knowledge. In normal routine cases, experts process cases with their encapsulated clinical knowledge. These differences in processing are reflected in clinical case…

"Wrap-up rounds," in which students, residents, and faculty physicians involved with patient care in a clinic gather to discuss the clinic session, are advocated. They allow a structured educational program to take place in an ambulatory care center without interfering with patient flow and care. (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.…

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)

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…

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.…

At the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of Penn State an internal medicine consulting resident sees all medical consultation requests not directed to a specific subspecialty division. A survey indicates that consulting residents are exposed to a quantitatively and qualitatively different spectrum of medical problems than on ward service.…

A survey of 121 internal medicine residents at Mount Sinai Hospital (New York) investigated students' career plans and decision timing, the effect on their residency of applying for a fellowship, and the timing of the fellowship process. Results indicate the current medical fellowship application system is generally experienced negatively. A…

Urges that students change from dualistic or relativistic thinking toward a sociological perspective on health, illness, and healing. Discusses feature films and how they can be used as case studies on mental illness, death-dying, and the political economy of illness. Appends an annotated list of films. (NL)

The University of Hawaii developed an assessment and testing program for qualifying internal medicine residents in basic procedural skills: an observation period, a multiple-choice examination, and a slide-identification examination. The mean scores of both examinations were analyzed to assess whether curriculum changes were effective. (Author/MLW)

Medical trainees and recent graduates of 3 Quebec medical schools were surveyed as to how they valued 16 dimensions of medical competence classified in 4 broad categories: clinical, technological, humanistic, and social and preventive. Medical trainees gave more importance to basic diagnostic and therapeutic skills. (Author/MLW)

A survey of residents (N=323) in 6 internal medicine programs investigated the topics students wanted included in the medical ethics curriculum and by which of 17 methods they would prefer to be taught. About three-fourths had previous medical ethics instruction, and most wanted more on specific topics, especially legal and end-of-life issues.…

Analysis of medical residents' clinical performances in five teaching hospital anesthesiology departments revealed that noncognitive performance in some areas was a powerful predictor of overall clinical performance and was related to the occurrence of critical incidents. Noncognitive predictors included conscientiousness, management, confidence,…

A microcomputer program to provide health care workers with instruction in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infection control was assessed by medical residents. The experimental group (n=24) acquired more knowledge than controls (n=33). Response to the method was positive, and computer-assisted instruction is seen as useful for AIDS…