A survey of 1,044 graduates of an entry-level PharmD program looked at preparation for practice, career outcomes, professional contributions, and job satisfaction, with special attention paid to effects related to gender and postgraduate residency training. Results affirm strong and positive influence of residency training on professional…

A study of 88 students in a problem-based surgery clerkship found significant gain in knowledge level, found to be linked to improved clinical performance. Additional findings included peers were good judges of students' knowledge and skills; faculty were not good judges of changes in student skills or ability to apply them. (MSE)

The use of a performance-based assessment of senior medical students' clinical skills utilizing standardized patients was evaluated, with 6,804 student-patient encounters involving 405 students over 6 years. Results provide evidence for test security, content validity, construct validity, reliability, and test ability to discriminate a wide range…

A study with about 280 Southern Illinois University senior medical students found that standardized patients felt male and female examinees generally performed equally well with respect to interpersonal and communication skills, except for female examinees' higher performance in personal manner. Patient gender was not an influence. (Author/MSE)

A study evaluated the feasibility of an objective structured clinical examination to assess the competence of foreign medical school graduates, clinical clerks, and interns to address clinical ethical situations. The University of Toronto's experience with the measure found it useful but in need of improvement. (MSE)

A survey of U.S. medical schools (104 responses) found a significant association between required family practice clerkships or preceptorships and those institutions ranking in the highest quartile for percent of graduates entering family practice. A similar significant association was found between student selection of family practice options and…

Carolinas Medical Center (North Carolina) initiated a behavioral training program for general practice dental residents to develop skills in handling patient anxiety/stress, obesity, and depression. The program includes monthly seminars, a clinical rotation in behavioral medicine with additional related seminars, and a month-long clinical rotation…

Describes the outcomes of the Community College-Nursing Home Partnership Project in three areas: faculty development, curriculum innovation, and collaborative relationships. Explains how the project allies associate degree nursing faculty with practitioners to incorporate nursing home care and geriatrics into the curriculum. (JOW)

Discussion of student evaluation in clinical legal education (CLE) focuses on self-evaluation. It considers the goals of CLE and the role of evaluation methods in accomplishing them, examines three models in which teaching self-evaluation is central, and reviews legal and medical education teaching techniques using explicit and implicit evaluation…

The Temple University (Pennsylvania) advanced general dentistry program includes seminars and clinical rotations in social work, to help students gain an appreciation and working knowledge of social workers' function in health care provision, to improve interpersonal skills, to interact with social workers, to address diversity issues, and to…

The Department of Surgery at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has developed a multidisciplinary clerkship that melds traditional and nontraditional clerkship features within an organizational structure that places the teaching, curriculum, and student evaluation responsibilities in the hands of the faculty. (MLW)

The University of Minnesota's required six-week ambulatory medicine clerkship provides a comprehensive orientation to ambulatory care through planned integration of patient care with academic work. Responses of both students and faculty have been enthusiastic, with the benefits compensating for high costs in preceptor time. (MSE)

A study investigated whether a third-year medical clerkship evaluation system validly predicted students' later performance ratings during internships. Internship ratings of students needing remediation from 1986 to 1993 were compared with those of students voluntarily choosing fourth-year medicine. Results indicate the medicine clerkship…

The ECFMG[R] Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA[R]) was developed to evaluate whether graduates of international medical schools (IMGs) are ready to enter graduate training programs in the United States. The patient note (PN) exercise, conducted after a 15-minute interview with a standardized patient (SP), is specifically used to assess a candidate's…

Objective: Forensic psychiatry was officially recognized as a subspecialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties in the 1990's. In 1994, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) gave its first written examination to certify forensic psychiatrists. In 1996, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) began…