The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford was established to provide community-based medical education. Students have extensive clinical training at community health centers, and 48% of graduates eventually practice primary care. To support generalist education, faculty changes in attitudes, behavior, and knowledge and curriculum…

In the University of South Dakota's medical school clerkship program, students may choose one of three ambulatory-care settings. In one, the curriculum is problem based and student centered to enhance student interest in primary care. The new program has been successful and well received and is being further developed. (MSE)

Edward Kowalewski discusses involving the community in medical education emphasizing the need for models to be flexible in light of different community environments. Harold B. Wise focuses discussion of training in the new setting on the development of a practitioner to assist patients and families in their normal development. (JT)

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…

Context: Prior study suggests that contextual characteristics of medical schools (e.g., state demographics, public vs private, NIH research effort) predict output of rural physicians without also considering the effects of the medical schools' own policies and programs. Purpose: This study examines medical school commitment to rural policies and…

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…

Data from a 1976 survey indicate: continued emphasis on education in ambulatory care, without coordinated primary care training efforts; leveling-off of interest in HMO's; no significant change in the number of affiliated programs for training nurse practitioners or physician's assistants; and marked increases in internal medicine and pediatrics…

Experience with the Computer Stored Ambulatory Record (COSTAR), a computerized medical records system, installed at a large primary care clinic at a university medical center is reported. Use of the system was terminated because clinic revenues could not cover operating costs. (Author/MLW)

Opinions were obtained from residents, family medicine faculty, and attending physicians familiar with an established family medicine residency program regarding the tasks that family doctors should and should not perform. (LBH)

Matrix organization offers a structure that can facilitate coordination and cooperation in health care educational administration. Its application within the health care system is reviewed, the matrix organization of the primary care residency at the University of Pennsylvania is reported, and advantages and disadvantages are discussed.…

Rural areas have difficulty attracting physicians, and they also send fewer students to medical schools than do urban areas. A program at the University of Washington's medical school known as WAMI--for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho--is trying to combat that problem. (MLW)

Health care reforms will dramatically change the culture of medical schools in areas of patient care, research, and education programs. Academic medical centers must construct mutually beneficial partnerships that will position them to take advantage of the opportunities rather than leave them without the diversity of resources needed to make…

This paper presents medical residents' opinions regarding barriers to producing more generalist physicians, such as lack of appropriate training in ambulatory generalist practice and the increased prestige given to specialists. Recommendations are offered to medical schools, residency programs, the community, and the culture of medicine to…

Designed to shorten the overall length of training and to restore a broad-based clinical experience to the period of intermediate patient care responsibilities, students in the program described observe and practice in a primary care setting. Analysis of their performance indicates they perform on a level comparable with first-year house officers.…

Despite an explosion in scientific knowledge and the capacity of medicine to diagnose, treat, and cure diseases, blacks and other minorities have not benefitted fully or equitably from these advances. The systems which are responsible for implementing health technologies do not work in favor of minority groups. An amendment to the Public Health…