Discusses weaknesses in the system for rating educational quality in medical schools, and suggests ways to enhance the mechanics of the ratings task, the system used to obtain ratings, and factors affecting raters' judgments. The effect of the current health-care environment on ratings is examined, and guidelines are offered for a national effort…

Identified medical schools or departments that used metric systems to quantify faculty activity and productivity in teaching and analyzed purposes and progress of those systems. Found that identifying a "rational" method for distributing funds was the most common reason articulated, and that schools varied in types of information tracked. Also…

In three decades, the osteopathic profession has moved from primarily manipulative therapy to full-service health care, replacing primary care emphasis with specialization. The profession should return to its original mission of primary care, establish links with allopathic medicine, and support new national policy for primary health care.…

A review of 47 health care education research articles in 9 medical and health care disciplines looked for evidence that the studies attempted to predict success in the health care professions. Results indicated very few of the studies used any of the three major methods for testing predictive validity. (Author/MSE)

A review of studies in which it was possible to compare results of health profession trainees' self-evaluations with assessment of performance by experts or objective tests found that self-assessment has potential but is poorly used. Effective training to improve validity and accuracy is available. (Author/MSE)

The report of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Medical School Objectives Program presents the work of two expert panels. One, on medical informatics, identified five important physician roles: lifelong learner, clinician, educator, researcher, and manager. Another panel established a definition for "population health…

Successful rural health delivery factors include group practice, retention of the same health providers for three years, community-oriented focus, integration of non-M.D. providers, and commitment to education within the practice. Academic medical centers with and without area health education centers should expand to serve rural communities…

The HealthCare Interactive Videodisc Consortium, a self-governing organization, was formed to design, produce, and evaluate interactive videodisc courseware for the medical field. The 14 United States and 4 Canadian medical and nursing school members were selected based on subject matter and biomedical communications expertise and availability for…

The Working Group on the Pre-Clinical Years of the 1997 National Consensus Conference on Medical Education for Care Near the End of Life identifies promising settings and suggests how they might be used for maximum benefit in end-of-life education. Basic-care competencies are in five domains: psychological/social/cultural/spiritual issues;…

A study investigated perceptions of 606 scientists and 91 institutional representatives (IRs) toward the National Institutes of Health Office of Research Integrity concerning appropriate punishment for unethical research behavior. Respondents suggested punishment for 80% of unethical scenarios presented to them. Punishment type was related to…

Education of medical students in the basic and clinical sciences must be integrated into a seamless curriculum over four years, team-taught by both a clinician and a basic scientist. Medical students must be able to perform an initial evaluation of a neurological complaint and know when consultation is needed. (Author/MSE)

A study of 406 Brown University (Rhode Island) medical students found slightly over half had undergraduate majors in science or mathematics, a third majored in the humanities or social sciences, and a tenth had double majors or independent concentrations. No statistically significant difference was found between medical school performances of the…

A study calculated the costs versus the benefits of an institutional self-study done to satisfy requirements of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education accreditation process, by analyzing hours spent on the study over 18 months by 131 committee members and 64 database compilers, the probability that concerns identified by subcommittees would be…

The first phase of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Medical School Objectives Project, to develop consensus on the attributes medical students should possess on graduation, is reported. Each of the four identified attributes is explained, and the associated learning objectives are stated. Attributes are the physician must be…

Principles for development of health professions curricula in family violence, arising from a 1994 national conference of experts, are identified at three levels: (1) knowledge, skills, and practices to be taught to all health professionals; (2) advanced training for primary care practitioners for comprehensive care and for specialists for…