Self-regulation in medicine depends on accurate self-assessment. The purpose of the present study was to examine the discrepancy between self and peer assessments for a group of specialist physicians from internal medicine (IM), pediatrics, and psychiatry clinical domains (i.e., patient management, clinical assessment, professional development,…

Paper presented at the Council of Academic Societies Conference, Washington, D.C., October 2-5, 1968

Interdisciplinary health care training is advocated by numerous government and philanthropic organizations. Educators in the health professions are increasingly offering training in interdisciplinary health care in a variety of contexts, including ambulatory settings. This paper describes a three-year program to teach skills in interdisciplinary…

The contribution of private physicians to medical student education in ambulatory care was determined by a questionnaire directed to departments of family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics in U.S. medical schools. Departments of family practice were most likely to offer ambulatory care courses. (Author/MLW)

Some of the programs in general internal medicine are now reaching the point at which surveys of graduates can help assess program strengths and weaknesses. A survey of graduates from the University of Colorado School of Medicine is described. (MLW)

A pilot study is described that was designed to make medical students' early professional contact with the elderly occur with those who are well enough to function as independently living individuals. The students felt the teaching value of the experience equaled or exceeded that of their experience with hospitalized patients. (MLW)

A study in a medical center investigated the feasibility of primary care practices combining internal medicine and pediatrics residencies. Equally divided among children and adults, the patients had sought specialists and were highly satisfied. The physicians had appeal particularly to young upper-middle class patients. (Author/MSE)

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Division of General Internal Medicine is described, focusing on personnel and organization, educational programs, clinical and research activities, special programs, finances, and related issues and pressures. The program is proposed as a model for other institutions. (MSE)

A comparison of patient (n=181) and tutor (n=31) evaluations of medical student (n=41) behavior in an internal medicine clerkship revealed difficulties with patient evaluation of students. The process is time consuming and introduces tension between students and patients, and patients are poor discriminators. (Author/MSE)

A study compared the 1984-88 test performances of United States osteopathic medical school graduates and Canadian medical school graduates with those of U.S. and foreign medical school graduates during the same period. Findings, limitations, and implications for recruitment and training of internal medicine specialists are discussed. (Author/MSE)

An innovative internal medicine clerkship provides a one-month ambulatory care component followed by two months of traditional inpatient experience. Assessment of the changes in student ability to diagnose in a variety of brief cases found knowledge gains in the shorter ambulatory care segment were double those in the longer segment. (MSE)

After identifying four medical specialty services in a hospital where patient lengths of stay were excessive, two educational interventions to decrease the time were developed. In meetings with each physician data on lengths of stay were discussed, and then a continuing education meeting was held. Improved efficiency resulted. (Author/MLW)

The clinical performance of junior hospital staff concerning the management of patients with acute abdominal pain may be enhanced by placing greater emphasis on teaching clinical decision-making skills during the preintern year. Final year medical students took part in a teaching session in which groups of six to eight rotated through six stations…

This study retrospectively applies aggregate scoring to the cardiology questions from a recertifying examination in general internal medicine. Three groups of experts were identified among the examinees and the remainder of the examinees were the participants (N=1887) of the study. Generalizability theory is applied to these data. (MLW)

A study found that a 50-minute lecture on the value of autopsy had little effect on housestaff patterns of requesting autopsies. Housestaff (n=27) attending the lecture did not request more autopsies or obtain more permissions than did the control group (n=26). Results suggest more sophisticated techniques than lectures should be used. (Author/MSE)