The development and application of a complexity index to 29 clinical problems used in a new graduate curriculum is reported. The index uses five components of problem complexity: symptoms, physical signs and investigations, socioeconomic and behavioral factors, diagnoses, and management plans. (Author/MLW)

How undergraduate psychology students were given hands-on opportunities for administering Piagetian clinical interviews is described. To facilitate the training process, flowcharts for Piagetian tasks were developed. These include instructions, checklists for student responses, and alternative procedures to be followed dependent on a child's…

Investigated degree to which judges could simulate Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) responses of a clinically depressed patient group. Judgmental profiles of depressed patients indicated very high reliabilities across information conditions, a high association with actual profiles of clinically depressed patients, and differentiation from other…

A computer system for analyzing a patient pool used by the division of dental hygiene at Virginia Commonwealth University is presented as a model for evaluating patient profiles. Descriptions of the various patient parameters are provided, and guidelines are presented to assist institutions considering such a system. (Author/MLW)

Work is continuing at the University of Illinois at the Medical Center to simulate additional medically significant odors and to incorporate them into instructional and evaluation materials. Already studied are breath and urine odors used in the diagnosis of clinical conditions. (LBH)

Describes infectious mononucleosis (IM), examining viral transmission and infection, clinical features, diagnosis, and management. Focuses on answers to several commonly asked questions about IM in sport (e.g., when it is safe to resume sports after IM, how often fatigue or depression are related to earlier bouts of IM, and how often IM is…

This study compared level of agreement among four models used to diagnose learning disabilities (LD), including the simple discrepancy, intraindividual, intellectual ability-achievement, and underachievement models. The simple discrepancy model diagnosed significantly more college students with LD than the others. The highest agreement was between…

A case in which a dental student with hand, foot, and mouth disease was told he had "medical student disease" (MSD), or hypochondriasis, is related; literature pertaining to the occurrence and treatment of MSD is reviewed, and the importance of care in approaches to both students and patients are discussed. (MSE)

Assessed hypothesis testing strategies of 65 counseling trainees who viewed and responded to videotaped client-counselor interaction for both client-identified and counselor self-generated hypothesis about client's problem. Results for client-identified hypotheses failed to support strong neutral hypothesis testing strategy or predicted…

Responses from 140 nursing schools indicated that most taught health assessment to nurse practitioners as a separate course; public institutions were more involved in computer-assisted instruction. Faculty cited scarce resources and limited time to develop new teaching strategies. Most agreed that graduate courses should focus on differential…

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…

The Arizona Clinical Interview Rating Scale is examined for construct validity as a instrument to evaluate the interviewing techniques of medical students. Evidence was gathered in the areas of convergent and discriminant validity, sensitivity to change, internal consistency, and objectivity. (Author)

The authors reviewed 96,804 diagnoses from student visits to a student health center over a three-year period. Diagnoses coded for international students were compared to those for domestic students. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)

Used a standardized treatment planning simulation and a process tracing strategy to qualitatively examine how mental health clinicians (N=15) solved a typical client management problem. Results showed that respondents used descriptive rather than formal diagnostic terms and that strategies varied with training and experience. (LLL)

Thomas Kuhn's conceptions of the influence of paradigms on the progress of science form the framework for analyzing how medical educators have approached research on medical problem solving. A new paradigm emphasizing multiple types of problems with varied solution strategies is proposed. (Author/MLW)