Medical specialty choice and reasons for change among those Wright State University students who switched their choice between entry and graduation were studied, based on questionnaire findings. For the class of 1982, 35 of the 70 students chose as their eventual specialty their preference at entry to medical school. Primary care specialties…

The Program in Medical Sciences (PIMS) is designed to combine the selection of a heterogeneous class without significant change in the educational environment as designed for a homogeneous class. The program is an attempt to equalize the allocation of resources of the medical profession and to provide primary care physicians to underserved areas.…

Harvard medical students in a psychiatric rotation at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center may elect to do part of their work in a neighborhood comprehensive health center in which primary care services are offered. Students are exposed to a multiprofessional and mixed professional-paraprofessional staff, as well as to special patient problems.…

A survey of learning styles of 108 family practice residents and faculty was conducted to determine correlations between learning style and career choice and to examine possible implications for resident-faculty interaction, especially in instructional activities. Learning style preferences tended toward the concrete and active modes

The relationship between verbal exchange in doctor-patient consultations and patients' comprehension has been measured by audio-tape recordings. The results provide objective evidence of differences in outcomes for similar presenting illnesses in different social groups, supporting the hypothesis that people in lower socioeconomic classes do not…

The recurrent failure to adequately conceptualize the medical meaning of "disease" is explained as a function of the way this is taught in the curriculum, since it is transmitted within the internal structure relationships of the medical course. Curriculum reform therefore must stress educational structure as well as content change. (Author/LBH)

Colorado's area health education program, the SEARCH program, designed to alleviate the maldistribution of health manpower, is described. It recruits new professionals to underserved areas through student/resident rotations and retains those professionals already there by providing accessible continuing education. (Author/MLW)

At the New Jersey Medical School, an obligatory, multidisciplinary, fourth-year emergency medicine clerkship requires ambulance duty, emergency room rotation, medical specialty lectures, and a cardiac life support providers course. Particular problems associated with multidisciplinary courses are discussed. (Author/JMD)

A review of 287 patient visits to a teaching hospital polyclinic shows that most patients had multiple problems that required the help of subspecialists. However, the patients' needs for accessibility, comprehensiveness, coordination, and continuity are as great as those of patients receiving primary care. Implications for academic internal…

A solution to the rural health crisis will require not only changes in student selection, curriculum, and training location but also strengthening of the rural economy, improved reimbursement to rural hospitals and primary care physicians, and increased sensitivity among leaders of the medical profession to rural community and practitioner needs.…

The ambulatory care clerkship at the College of Human Medicine of Michigan State University has an extensive database of clerkship experiences including a catalog of students' clinical experiences, assessment of students' performances by the faculty, and students' evaluation of various aspects of the clerkship. (MLW)

A survey of 246 primary care and 90 academic physicians found that for the former, length of training, direct patient contact, and threats of malpractice suits were significant influences in career choice. For the latter, long-term research participation, intellectual stimulation, specialty content, and mentor or role model were more significant…

Generalist physicians of the future will need new knowledge and skills for continuous improvement of health care. Successful examples can be found in the work of generalist physicians who combine knowledge for improvement with discipline-specific knowledge to improve patient and community health. Curricula can be developed to teach students and…

A method for training physicians in a simple, efficient, and effective smoking cessation counseling strategy consisted of lunchtime seminar, follow-up reinforcement session, and prompt sheet for use during counseling. The counseling strategy emphasizes individual motivation, assessing and addressing obstacles to quitting, drug therapy, contracting…

The availability of primary health care services is an growing concern of New York's rural citizens. Many rural country doctors are approaching retirement age, while most graduating physicians choose high tech specialties rather than primary care. In November 1989, a statewide conference examined the role of New York State medical schools in…