Three chronically ill patients were trained to evaluate the performance of 31 second-year internal medicine house officers based upon: a checklist for the medical data elicited during the medical interview; the process of the interview; and the physical examination technique. (Author/MLW)

Orders written by medical residents to be carried out on newly-hospitalized patients were reviewed to determine the frequency of vital signs orders. Subsequent clinical events requiring nurses to contact house officers were determined. Data suggest that physicians should request nurses to use more efficient methods of clinical observation.…

The Canadian College of Family Physicians has conducted certification examinations in which instructors observed physicians interviewing patients in another room equipped with one-way mirrors. An experimental study comparing evaluations of physicians by this method with those in which examiners sat in the same room revealed no differences between…

Data are reported suggesting that a change in practice patterns did occur subsequent to a continuing medical education program. Twenty-eight physicians took a course in pulmonary artery pressure monitoring and followup surveys indicate its objectives were met. (LBH)

An alternate method of defining the terms "service,""training,""education," and "learning" is presented from the viewpoint of the role changes that students experience as they become medical practitioners. These operational definitions permit new approaches to program evaluation and a new basis for student-teacher discourse. (LBH)

Factor analytic development of various measures of consumer perceptions regarding characteristics of doctors and health care services is described. Findings are discussed in relation to program planning and evaluation in medical education, and suggestions for future research are noted. (Editor/JT)

In response to the need to assure physician competence, a rating scale was developed at the University of Minnesota Medical School for use in evaluating clinical competence in pediatric cardiology. It was tested on first- and second-year specialists. Development and testing procedures are described. (JT)

The study reported was conducted to identify cognitive, affective, and skill elements that may be transmitted to medical students through the pedagogic autopsy and to determine differences, if any, between student perceptions of the amount of emphasis given these elements and faculty beliefs as to the amount of emphasis given these elements in…

A modified Payne process and the JCAH intermediate outcome medical audits were applied to 6,980 cases in eight diagnostic categories within 22 hospitals, representing 1,321 attending physicians. The effects of item specificity, total number of items, outcome versus process indicators, and item weights on measurement characteristics of audit…

A new approach to the assessment of physicians' performance in practice using undetected standardized (simulated) patients is discussed. Case-specific performance criteria were established for seven standardized patients and then the patients were introduced into the practices of family physicians. (Authors/MLW)

Students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine were surveyed using an inventory of problems and concerns relating to their personal and academic lives. The survey revealed that among chief student concerns are a lack of personal freedom, excessive academic pressures, and feelings of dehumanization. (Editor/LBH)

Presents a 3-dimensional conceptual framework for measuring clinical competence: problem-solving process, clinical discipline, and context of care. The intersection of the dimensions defines the clinical practice domain to be measured. For each domain specific problems can be identified and clinicians asked to demonstrate competence in resolving…

A film describing tachypea as an early manifestation of congenital heart disease was shown to physicians and nurses at 27 hospitals during regular continuing medical education activities. Findings from pre-test and post-test data show that need-oriented educational programs can measurably improve the quality of patient care. (Author/LBH)

An evaluation procedure designed to measure the effects of university-organized continuing medical education (CME) courses on participants' prescribing behavior was examined. Copies of prescriptions were analyzed to establish real behavior compared with the physicians' self-reports. (Author/MLW)