A study of rotating interns' images of medical practitioners focuses on what images the interns have of obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians, internists, psychiatrists, and surgeons, and seeks to determine whether these images differ according to choice of specialty for postgraduate work. (JMD)

All 378 family practice and 420 internal medicine training programs in the United States were surveyed to determine how well geriatrics has been integrated into residency programs. Results indicated geriatric training integration is not universal, largely because of shortages of faculty and clinical training sites. (Author/GLR)

A study investigated the availability of each of 19 medical school support services offered by 493 residencies in 6 specialties: family practice; internal medicine; obstetrics/gynecology; pediatrics; psychiatry; and surgery. Results show many specialties do not offer common, effective support services. It is suggested that programs move to…

A survey of 1,139 Virginia family practitioners and internal medicine specialists investigated interest in pursuing geriatric education, including such factors as preferred form of education, preferred topics, intent to take the geriatric medicine qualifying examination, geriatric care provided, home visits, prior participation in geriatrics…

A study investigated the effect of participation in an intensive internal medicine conference series during a third-year medicine clerkship (n=173 students) on medical licensing examination scores and compared this with scores in surgery and pediatrics and scores of 466 students not participating in the conference. Better test performance on the…

A survey of 250 accredited internal medicine training sites in the United States revealed that only 6% offered formal training in telephone medicine to their residents, usually consisting of single lectures or reading materials. A majority of respondents felt telephone management training was very important and should be part of every internal…

A study assessed effectiveness of instruction designed to train internal-medical-clerkship students in productive use of feedback from residents and attending physicians (APs) to improve performance. The workshop focused on writing goals in a learning contract, defining characteristics of effective feedback, and practicing use of feedback in…

Information seeking strategies that primary care physicians use to supplement their knowledge in problem solving were studied to help tailor continuing medical education (CME) courses for various groups of physicians. Of interest were: the sequences physicians use to access different sources, variability among physicians in information search…

Over a 4-year period moral reasoning and performance data were studied on 350 resident pediatricians, internists, and practitioners of family medicine from seven different institutions. Clinical performance was measured by faculty ratings, and integrity (moral reasoning) was measured by Kohlberg's Standard of Moral Judgement Interview and Rest's…

A cost containment program initiated in 1975 on the medical teaching service of Charlotte Memorial Hospital, a University of North Carolina affiliated hospital, has led to a significant improvement in hospital house staff utilization of facilities and procedures. In the outpatient setting an actual reduction in patient-encounter cost was realized…

Perceptions of students who would have elected a preceptorship rotation had it not been required were compared with those of students who participated only to fulfill the requirement. Both groups perceived an increase in knowledge of primary care practices and confidence in relevant clinical skills. (Author/LBH)

At quarterly intervals in 1986-87, attribution of control and subjective symptom ratings were assessed among general psychiatry residents in the University of Cincinnati's training program. Differences were significant for ratings of internal locus of control, but the external locus of control ratings showed no corresponding fluctuation.…

Using data on 3,569 women and 15,582 men trained in internal medicine, this study investigated gender differences in choice of primary care practice and their possible relationship to training program type, traditional or primary care. Results indicate women pursued primary care more often than did men, regardless of training program completed.…

To determine compliance with the guidelines of the U.S. government and the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Hospitals pertaining to informed consent, hospital administrators, medical school department chairpersons, and medical school deans were surveyed about policies on student involvement in patient care. (Author/MLW)

A four-year study found that, between internships and the end of residencies at the Oregon Health Sciences University, physicians' attitudes about their careers and residency experiences improved significantly, suggesting that, although internships may be dysphoric, normalization of emotional states and attitudes occurs during residency.…