Specialization has become necessary in certain kinds of pharmaceutical practice, and colleges are developing curricula, faculties, and programs to respond. However, specialization also carries risks. Institutions must define their capabilities, resist encouraging students to specialize too early, provide adequate generalist education first, and…

A study compared the productivity and patient-care revenues of clinical teaching faculty and their nonteaching physician counterparts over two years. Productivity was reduced by 30-40 percent when teaching, and revenue lost reached as high as $24,000 per student taught. Implications for ambulatory-care delivery system planning are discussed.…

A study compared the costs of a six-station structured oral examination and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for a surgery clerkship, assessing both faculty and materials costs. The OSCE was found to be more time consuming and expensive. Cost-cutting measures and guidelines to assist medical schools in selecting test type are…

A study with 137 third-year medical students found little correlation between students' self-assessments of clinical skills before and after their clerkships and external skill indicators (grades, test scores, and faculty ratings). These results are similar to those of previous studies. (Author/MSE)

A description of the development of a new surgery clerkship looks at institutional background (University of Kentucky College of Medicine) for the project, preliminary evaluation and planning efforts, formulation of an ideal for the clerkship, barriers to change, overcoming resistance to change, and comparisons with problem-based learning programs…

A study supported use of the objective structured clinical examination for screening foreign medical graduates (n=67) wishing to enter a preinternship program in at the University of Toronto. However, it also showed that appropriate training for the candidates was the internship, not preinternship, program. (MSE)

In cases where private medical practitioners volunteer as preceptors in medical clerkships, standardizing and evaluating the learning experience is a concern. A study investigated the effectiveness of feedback to the volunteer teachers as a means of improving instruction in identified deficiency areas. Results indicate some problems persist.…

The Working Group on the Pre-Clinical Years of the 1997 National Consensus Conference on Medical Education for Care Near the End of Life identifies promising settings and suggests how they might be used for maximum benefit in end-of-life education. Basic-care competencies are in five domains: psychological/social/cultural/spiritual issues;…

Discusses the need to train clinical practitioners in social work to address ongoing issues of oppression. Describes a second-year Master's in Social Work clinical practice sequence taught from feminist, poststructuralist, postmodern, and social constructionist perspectives, where students learn to assess the impacts of oppression, discover…

A total of 240 speech-language pathologists responded to a questionnaire examining attitudes toward and use of research and evidence-based practice (EBP). Perceived barriers to EBP were also explored. Positive attitudes toward research and EBP were reported. Attitudes were predicted by exposure to research and EBP practice during graduate training…

This paper reports contributions that students have made in the development of self-instructional materials in dentistry. It begins with a description of forces that encourage utilizing students as members of the instructional development staff and reports the role students have played in attempts to develop an individualized curriculum in…

Describes a program at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis to give students experience in diagnosis and management of urinary tract diseases. Students request from computer data banks that laboratory information they deem most useful in the medical management of each clinical problem. (JT)

Describes the development and use of standardized forms found to be effective for evaluating clinical clerkship experiences of pharmacy students. Copies of the Preliminary Questionnaire and the Post-Evaluation Form are included along with the goals of the Washington State University College of Pharmacy Clinical Pharmacy Program. (JT)

Law schools have undertaken clinical methods permitting law students to represent indigent civil or criminal clients under supervision. Seven programs are described and represent various approaches, indicating the importance of granting academic credit, dedication of sufficient resources for supervision, and emphasis on skills development and…

Describes briefly the objectives, problem-oriented educational process, 4-phase curriculum, and resources of a new 3-year School of Clinical Medicine, part of a decentralized and regionalized scheme of medical education designed to improve geographic distribution of graduates, increase incentive to enter primary care specialties, and assure…