At the examination of a patient, a doctor evaluates clinical picture of the disease that manifests itself by a great number of various general and local symptoms caused by an etiological factor and pathogenesis changes of the different organs and systems of the organism. A purpose of the surgical patient examination is making of early, correct and…

Virtual patients are computerised representations of realistic clinical cases. They were developed to teach clinical reasoning skills through delivery of multiple standardized patient cases. The anesthesia course at The Chinese University of Hong Kong developed two novel types of virtual patients, formative assessment cases studies and storyline,…

Teaching and assessing doctor-patient communication has become a priority in medical education. This pilot study evaluated resident physicians' perceptions of teaching and assessing doctor-patient communication skills related to pain management using a web-based format. Fifty-nine resident physicians completed four doctor-patient clinical…

The author discusses an assessment of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's work over a 20-year period to improve end-of-life care in America. The case illustrates the evolution of the strategy from one focused on a multiyear randomized control trial of a series of hospital-based interventions that produced findings of "no effects" into several…

Objectives: To develop and assess a housestaff curriculum on opioid and other substance abuse among patients with chronic noncancer pain (CNCP). Methods: The two-hour, case-based curriculum delivered to small groups of medical housestaff sought to improve assessment and management of opioid-treated CNCP patients, including those with a substance…

Studied how student attitudes toward different types of patients and the medical profession change during clinical rotations. Responses of 88 third-year medical students show that students became less idealistic toward the elderly and people with chronic pain and less idealistic toward the profession. (SLD)

Introduction: This article critiques the questions asked and methods used in research syntheses in continuing education (CE) in the health professions, summarizes the findings of the syntheses, and makes recommendations for future CE research and practice. Methods: We identified 1.5 research syntheses published after 1993 in which primary CE…