Emphasis on family medicine has resulted in three problems: definition, discrepancies between objectives and practice, and the lack of a specialized body of knowledge. Training should concentrate on simple but more effective goals, enhanced compassion and empathy, and improved communication skills, understanding of emotional needs, and counseling…

A program incorporating experiential and didactic experience in identification and treatment of drug abuse into third-year clerkship curriculum is described. Experiential training is in a methadone maintenance clinic. Students are evaluated on their knowledge, attitudes, and level of participation in the drug abuse treatment. (MSE)

An Albany Medical College program utilizes private internists' offices as sites for resident ambulatory education. The private practitioner is perceived as an excellent teacher and role model who provides a positive effect on the long-term career goals of residents. (MLW)

The specialty choice of Black citizens in residence as of September 1977 is compared with the choice pattern of all physicians certified by specialty boards as of December 1977. Results indicate that the choice patterns of Blacks are almost identical to those of all board certified physicians with the implication that the choices of Blacks are…

National data on 74,265 physicians from seven graduation cohorts (1970-1976) reveal that the increasing proportion of women in medical school has resulted in a trend toward more similar career patterns for men and women in several important areas, including specialty choice and duration of graduate medical education. (Author/JMD)

A rural residency rotation in Alaska for future academic psychiatrists is described and its benefits are enumerated. They include providing the opportunity to expand clinical skills, to see how culture shapes a patient's view of illness, to learn the value of paraprofessionals in rural areas, and to participate in administration. (JMD)

Examples of social concerns in health care delivery, such as the foreign medical graduate situation and physician distribution, are used to illustrate the author's suggestion that there are discrepancies between the underlying situations and the subjective perception of the social concerns involved. This causes inadequate or inappropriate reforms.…

Matrix organization offers a structure that can facilitate coordination and cooperation in health care educational administration. Its application within the health care system is reviewed, the matrix organization of the primary care residency at the University of Pennsylvania is reported, and advantages and disadvantages are discussed.…

The effects of societal and professional forces on the future of graduate dental education are examined. Some factors analyzed include: professional developments, paraprofessional changes, public initiatives, and government policy and legislation. The creation of a balanced and flexible dental care delivery system is proposed. (Author/MLW)

An academic general medicine clinic (GMC) was studied and profiles were generated to determine current patterns, shortcomings, and potential solutions. Conclusions include that GMC offers insufficient variety of patient presentations for optimal postgraduate medical education and inadequate accessibility for comprehensive medical care. (Author/JMD)

A seminar devoted to the psychological aspects of medical care has formed the major portion of the psychiatric training of primary care internal medicine residents at the Kenmore Center of the Harvard Community Health Plan. Content issues include professional identity, relationships with coworkers, and difficulties in handling patients.…

At the University of Miami Department of Family Medicine, resident peer review committees have sole responsibility for the peer review process and share responsibility with faculty committees for evaluation, discipline, promotion, certification, and dismissal of interns and residents. The review process and methods are discussed. (JMD)

A simulated Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was administered to 39 premedical students two weeks prior to the new MCAT. High correlations between simulated and active test scores were obtained in the biology, chemistry, physics, science problems, reading, and quantitative areas. (MH)

The results of a retrospective study of the psychiatry residency classes entering the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine between 1970 and 1975 show no significant difference in performance evaluations between residents in the graded and pass/fail groups. The two cohorts received almost identical overall grades. (JMD)

To meet the medical care crisis caused by returning World War II veterans, the Veterans Administration entered into affiliations with medical schools, a partnership that provided physicians for veterans and allowed residents to complete graduate medical education. (Author/MLW)