Discussion of efforts to improve availability of primary health care in rural areas addresses student selection, curriculum, training environment, and special inducements, and controversial areas such as rural training sites, merging of specialties, and compromise of residency continuity. It is proposed that basic institutional philosophical…

Discusses the failure of National Health Service Corps (NHSC) programs to attract and retain minority medical students. Cites the program's failure to place minority graduates in appropriate urban settings. Includes statistical data on minority medical school applicants, enrollment, and graduates. (FMW)

A program combining pediatrics and internal medicine is described. The four-year program, focusing on ambulatory care, alternates six-month rotations in each field and includes clinic training. Success factors include comparison of outpatient and inpatient care, developing an ambulatory practice to support resident salaries, and preparation for…

The Interdisciplinary Generalist Curriculum Project was developed to encourage schools of medicine and colleges of osteopathic medicine to implement interdisciplinary generalist curricula in the preclinical years. Five sites were competitively established as demonstration projects, and rigorous attention to creating and maintaining an…

A study of 2 groups of University of Kentucky medical graduates (319 high achievers and 276 low achievers) from 1964 to 1991 found more low achievers chose primary care specialties, especially in recent years. It is concluded that low achievers may have fewer career options available to them. More systematic recruitment and selection is…

Over 18 months, Medical College of Wisconsin students identified what they had learned during their clerkships in each of seven learning settings; the 3,030 outcomes were divided into 48 categories, and the ten most-frequent learning outcomes are reported. No significant differences by time of year or rural vs. urban clerkships were found.…

In an effort to intervene before students enter the medical care system at the University of Michigan, a Self Care Resource Corner and accompanying materials were developed and implemented. The objective was to encourage students to view themselves as the primary decision makers for health-related conditions before seeking care from clinicians.…

Issues are discussed involved in the application of the "oft-quoted Flexnerian model" to the community base of medical education and care, the singular set of structural problems characterizing a medical school's interface with the community, and the relationship of changes in medical care over the past 30 years to primary care medical education…

Increasingly, the health care needs of older people are dominating the field of medicine and the health care system. The supply of physician gerontologists and geriatricians, the attention they pay to the special needs of the elderly, and the adequacy of their training are addressed in these hearings, which consider a Senate bill to improve the…

Essential knowledge, practice, and values for the education of baccalaureate-level nurses are specified in a report developed under the direction of a national panel of representatives from the nursing, health care, and higher education communities. The report, entitled "Essentials for College and University Education for Professional Nursing,"…

Program trainees of an interinstitutional interdisciplinary primary care-mental health training program, implemented in Houston, Texas, included residents in psychiatry, pediatrics, internal medicine, and family practice; medical students; and graduate students in psychology, social work and nursing. A combination of field practicum and didactic…

Data are presented from a survey of all 1975 graduates of U.S. medical schools who entered a graduate medical education residency in family practice, and include statistics by sex, ethnic origin, age, legal residence at entrance, parental income, and father's occupation. (LBH)

Since practicing New Jersey family physicians still consider house calls important in the delivery of quality primary care, the Department of Family Medicine of the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School is assisting in revising program curricula to provide house call training. (Author/LBH)

Behavioral scientists at Johns Hopkins University Health Associate Program work in teams with medical preceptors in the clinical education and supervision of students during their first year of training. The rationale, objectives, and methods of implementation for teaching psychosocial skills are discussed. (Author/LBH)

The spectrum of patients seen in a traditional hospital-based training program is compared with patients seen in the University of Minnesota's ambulatory care clinic. Records were kept of the author's primary care experience with 687 patients. (LBH)