The experience of two combined residency programs in internal medicine and pediatrics is reviewed. The difficulty for residents of achieving competence in two disciplines is compounded by a lack of faculty role models. Success will depend on the ability of graduates to offer special talents to academic and clinical settings. (Author/MLW)

The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Clinical Evaluation Program, initiated in 1979, is described. Efforts toward improvement of evaluation focused on three tasks: definition of educational objectives, specification of criteria for determining when those objectives are met, and development of methods for assessing individual…

A program incorporating experiential and didactic experience in identification and treatment of drug abuse into third-year clerkship curriculum is described. Experiential training is in a methadone maintenance clinic. Students are evaluated on their knowledge, attitudes, and level of participation in the drug abuse treatment. (MSE)

An experimental, continuing, weekly interdisciplinary colloquy on cardiology is described. It is organized between the departments of medicine and physiology of Loyola University Medical Center to promote interaction between basic scientists and practicing physicians in the medical school. (Author/MLW)

The Optometric Center of Los Angeles provides students of the Southern California College of Optometry with an urban clinical environment that incorporates diversity, high levels of pathology, and community involvement. Through networking with outside agencies and with foundation help, the center provides a valuable educational setting for…

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)

To meet the medical care crisis caused by returning World War II veterans, the Veterans Administration entered into affiliations with medical schools, a partnership that provided physicians for veterans and allowed residents to complete graduate medical education. (Author/MLW)

Hewlett-Packard Corporation grant enabled Harvard Medical School to begin using computer technology in medical educational applications. Hardware and software selection, integration into the curriculum, teaching the use of computers, cost, successful applications, knowledge base access, simulations, video and graphics teaching programs, and…

Twenty-six student volunteers participated in an eight-hour self-instructional program and were compared to students in a control group. Analyses of covariance with perceptual ability test indicated that the experimental group statistically significantly outperformed the control group on all but one preparation. (Author/MLW)

A popular required family medicine clerkship at Jefferson Medical College (Pennsylvania) suggests that ambulatory care can be taught as a core component of the clinical curriculum. Success requires strong institutional support, structured curriculum, adequate patients, dedicated faculty, sufficient training sites, an appropriate evaluation…

The process used by the University of British Columbia to establish and improve an undergraduate hospital dentistry program is chronicled. The program's initial structure and objectives, use of student input for program improvement, and the success of the approach in developing an effective program are discussed. (MSE)

In an age of increasing emphasis on accountabiltiy and evaluation of clinical practice, professionals are questioning and examining varying processes of self evaluation. This paper describes the clinical peer group model as an evaluative process which offers its members an opportunity to receive evaluative feedback and emotional support about…

The Rural Clinical Nurse Placement Center (RCNP) was begun in Chico, California, in 1975 to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a model of a rural internship program in an effort to attract nurses to rural communities. Run by a director, clinical coordinator, full-time secretary, and half-time typist, the program places BS/RN degree…

The development and implementation of clinical inservice for the Collier County Master Inservice Plan is described. Clinical inservice is a learning situation where the consultant and teacher are together with the pupil who is the ultimate recipient of the benefits derived from the anticipated newly acquired skills or knowledge. Clinical inservice…

The use of efficient organization of knowledge and of problem-solving strategies to enhance medical students' clinical problem-solving skills were assessed. Information for the experimental group emphasized disease groupings, symptom-disease associations, and clinical problem-solving heuristics. The experimental group acquired higher ratio of…