Now the Russian healthcare system is rapidly changing. In this period training of future doctors is essential. In the modern conditions when highly qualified medical specialists mastering modern high-tech diagnosis and treatment methods are in demand, the improvement of the quality of training future doctors is one of the important goals of…

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…

An interactive, computer-based teaching exercise in diagnosis that emphasizes pathophysiology in the analysis of clinical data is described. Called the Jaundice Program, its objective is to simplify the pattern recognition problem by relating clinical findings to diagnosis via reference to disease mechanisms. (LBH)

A series of pictorial or tabular presentations that together make up a "master set" of Data Boards gives the medical student a visual picture of epidemiology. Each Data Board can be interpreted at the bedside or in similar situations. Its use in clinical teaching is described and suggestions for future applications are made. (Author/LBH)

The study examined how 3 medical information-gathering processes (history-taking, physical examination, and diagnostic studies) influenced 175 second-year medical students' formulations of the differential and the principal diagnoses of 14 simulated patient management problems in comparison with experienced clinicians. Students emphasized…

To fully develop their diagnostic skills, medical students must recognize the limited reliability of the observations on which diagnoses are based. Study of 36 second-year students shows multiple sources of observer variation in readings of systolic and diastolic blood pressures. (LBH)

A study investigated whether physicians (n=32) would generate less specific initial diagnoses than did medical students (n=39). Analysis of number, specificity, and breadth of diagnoses found students generated significantly more diagnostic hypotheses and more specific hypotheses, but breadth did not differ significantly. (Author/MSE)

Medical students in a course that included instruction in patient interviewing participated in an experiment devised to alert them to sources of bias that might influence their judgments and management of patients. Suggestions are made for incorporating such sensitization experiments in the medical curriculum. (Author/LBH)

In a survey of pre-clinical students' views on being told their diagnosis and prognosis in the hypothetical case of cancer, high agreement in the proportion wanting to be or not to be told was found between the responses of students and a sample of cancer patients reported by Kelly and Friesen. (Author/LBH)

A technique for simulating the papulosquamous skin diseases, using a computer, has been developed and tested with medical students and dermatologists to determine whether this type of simulation is suitable for training students in dermatological diagnosis. The results indicate that it appears to be feasible for training students in differential…

Videotapes recorded ward rounds at the pediatric teaching hospital affiliated with McGill University. The study revealed a variety of educational problems that provided the basis for a workshop on clinical teaching. The usefulness and practicality of the method as a tool for improving teacher effectiveness in a clinical setting was demonstrated.…

Observations of a departmental and non-departmental outpatient service organization are compared regarding student attitude and evaluation, patient care, clinical exposure control, and faculty attitude and performance. Tables show the evaluation topics of each rotation in the departmental system. (LBH)

Against the background of the problems associated with teaching the pelvic examination and the success reported in the literature for using "simulated patients," the uniformly positive student and faculty assessment of the acceptability of using partners as subjects for teaching this examination suggests strongly that this approach is…

The Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) is designed to measure health status in terms of sickness-related changes in behavior. Its content incorporates the perspectives of clinicians, patients, and the apparently healthy, and consists of 235 items. Its reliability and validity were supported in a study with both experienced physicians and residents.…

Identifies 14 cognitive components of the diagnostic thinking process in clinical problem solving. Analyzes the differences between medical students, hospital house officers, and hospital registrars in London, England, on the relative use of such thinking processes. Suggests that diagnostic thinking processes cannot be incorporated into medical…