A survey to determine the extent to which interdisciplinary health team concepts are being taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum in U.S. and Canadian medical schools is reported. Although the total number of reported programs is small, 53 percent of them were required for all students. (Author/MLW)

The major findings of a 1978 national survey of 4,500 physician's assistants are described. Seventy-four percent of the respondents were working in primary care specialties, and two-thirds were located primarily in institutions. Physician's assistants were more likely than physicians to be working in nonurban areas. (Author/MLW)

Optometry, as a primary eye/vision care provider, serves as a valuable resource in providing detection, education, referral, and follow-up services for patients with high blood pressure. A 1977 survey of 500 optometrists and a 1980 survey of schools and colleges of optometry are discussed. (MLW)

The faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has designed a rotation in the otolaryngology service, that is a basic clinical orientation to ear, nose and throat medicine, to fit the one-month block committed by the local family practice residency training program. The program is described and its…

Medication noncompliance is seen as an obstacle to successful clinical outcomes of many diseases. An exercise for preclinical medical students at Stanford University is described. Objectives include sensitizing students to the consequences of medication noncompliance, illustrating problems, and evaluating a number of compliance-related issues.…

Describes the use of integrated modular teaching of the human biology component of the Health Associate Program at Johns Hopkins University, where the goal is to develop an understanding of the sciences as applied to primary care. Discussion covers the module sequence, the human biology faculty, goals of the human biology faculty, laboratory…

The forward plan for health for 1978-1982 represents the Public Health Service's view of the health world for the next five-year period. Six main themes are outlined: knowledge development; prevention of illness; improving the health-care system; assuring the quality of health care; health-care financing; and tracking and evaluation. (LBH)

The initial phase of the Primary Care Education Program, a course of instruction for a limited number of students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, is described. It was designed to increase knowledge of primary care and doctor-patient relationship, and knowledge of a variety of modes of structuring health care…

Local interdisciplinary teams from universities in the District of Columbia, Cleveland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina participated in a national project that involved nursing, medicine, and health administration students in experiential learning and continuous improvement in health care settings. (SK)

Further work is needed in identifying strategies to improve rural health services that are most appropriate and cost effective in regions with differing circumstances and needs. Substantial reform of payment systems favoring rural and primary care is essential to the effectiveness of educational reform. (Author/MSE)

The typical family practice residency program has been fiscally solvent as a result of receiving approximately one-third of its income from state and federal appropriations. Declining Medicare payments to hospitals threaten hospitals' contributions to family practice residency programs. (Author/MLW)

A survey of 314 medical students before and after a required third-year internal medicine clerkship found differences between students choosing primary care and subspecialties, while undecided students shifted between those groups on several items. Results suggest the clerkship may affect students' image of primary care. (Author/MSE)

A study describes the characteristics of the current primary dental care workforce (dentists, hygienists, assistants), its distribution, and its delivery system in private and public sectors. Graduate dental school enrollments, trends in patient visits, employment patterns, state dental activities, and workforce issues related to health care…

Medical student organizations, such as the American Medical Student Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges' Organization of Student Representatives, and the American Academy of Family Physicians' National Congress of Student Members, are responding to the increased need for generalist physicians, through community-based…

This paper summarizes a lecture given to pharmacy students that emphasizes the pathophysiologic mechanisms causing congestive heart failure and the effects of drugs on these mechanisms. The approach shows the importance of drug therapy in this disorder and how this knowledge can improve patient care. An appendix provides a case study. (GLR)