A program using role-playing to model humanistic attitudes and encourage humanistic behavior in internal medicine residents is described. Resident attitudes and key features relating to the program's success are noted. (MSE)

As internal medicine residency programs struggle to produce enough general internists adequately prepared for practice, the graduate medical education system must have a clear picture of what competencies these practitioners will need. It must constantly monitor the changing practice environment and its varied generalist career choices.…

A study of 16 years of records of a general internal medicine faculty at a university hospital and its affiliated Veterans Administration medical center suggests the faculty involved in subspecialties and who have protected research time can improve their research productivity. (Author/MSE)

A study of house officers' performance of a complete medical history assessed interview content, questioning technique, and interview style. Frequent deficiencies included inadequate social, psychiatric, and drug reaction histories and an overly direct style. Use of detailed checklist for student evaluation is recommended to provide feedback and…

This study attempted to establish the validity of an essay test of clinical judgment by defining the domain of clinical judgment and operationalizing this definition in a 12-item essay examination administered to 98 residents in internal medicine. The relationship between essay scores and other measures of competence was then examined and the…

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 performance of 51 second-year internal medicine residents on an objective structured clinical examination and analyzed the test's role in evaluating clinical competence. The examination included nine physical diagnoses and several test-interpretation stations. Performance was analyzed statistically and correlated with…

The University of Minnesota internal medicine residency program of ambulatory general medicine rotations in rural communities and urban managed care settings is described. Development and structure of rotations, objectives, teaching strategies, faculty development, evaluation system, and elements of successful implementation are discussed.…

Medical education's current goal of producing 50% generalists, composed of practitioners in internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics, is examined. Issues include the definition of generalist, the number of generalists needed, changes needed in graduate and undergraduate medical education, changes needed in the practice environment, and…

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…

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.…