Over 13 weeks during two periods in 1978 the diagnostic rate for acute otitis media was monitored among febrile children in the emergency room of a large children's hospital. Temporal variation in diagnostic rates by physicians was largely attributable to differences among individual providers and independent of level of training. (Author/MLW)

Research findings have demonstrated the relevance of a home care experience for teaching the interactions of the social, psychological, environmental, and biological factors that characterize chronic illness. Research was conducted in the Home Care Program at the University of California, San Francisco. (Author/MLW)

The demographic, diagnostic, and prognostic characteristics of patients treated by house staff members rotating through the general medical wards of the Houston Veterans Administration Medical Center was studied. The data indicate that VA hospitals make a significant contribution to internal medicine training. (Author/MLW)

A continuing medical education program is discussed that addresses chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that links primary care physicians to a source of needed clinical knowledge at a relatively low cost. The educational methods, evaluation design, diagnosis of educational needs, selection of program content and behavioral outcomes are…

A study using problem-based, small-group techniques drawing on adult learning theories suggests this is a feasible approach to continuing medical education. Physicians use current and previous experience in the learning process and integrate new information with peer support, while the teacher facilitates learning and monitors the group process.…

In order to better prepare medical students for care of alcoholic patients, arguments are presented for understanding the negative perceptions of alcoholics, which are ingrained in the general culture, and how they merge with the students' developing professional identities. (Author/MLW)

An elective course in the history of medicine focuses on clinical thinking using the case study method. Course goals include: student recognition of clinical reasoning as a historical process; understanding of distinctions between disease categories and etiological frameworks; and different conceptualizations (etiological and syndromic) of…

A survey of U.S. medical schools was conducted to determine the content and format of occupational health teaching during the 1977-78 academic year. In only 50 percent of the responding institutions was occupational health specifically taught, and it was required by only 30 percent. Thirty-eight percent offered a variety of courses or clerkships.…

The effectiveness of chart audit with written feedback as a tool for encouraging residents to obtain and record occupational information during history-taking is evaluated. (Author/MLW)

A university-affiliated family medicine residency program, with its emphasis on psychosocial factors of health, was used to observe the behavior of health care providers. Information obtained through chart reviews was used to develop a family practice residency curriculum in occupational medicine. (MLW)