The relationship between verbal exchange in doctor-patient consultations and patients' comprehension has been measured by audio-tape recordings. The results provide objective evidence of differences in outcomes for similar presenting illnesses in different social groups, supporting the hypothesis that people in lower socioeconomic classes do not…

The recurrent failure to adequately conceptualize the medical meaning of "disease" is explained as a function of the way this is taught in the curriculum, since it is transmitted within the internal structure relationships of the medical course. Curriculum reform therefore must stress educational structure as well as content change. (Author/LBH)

The "one-and-two" program involves a larger teaching hospital for the first year and a smaller community hospital for the second and third years of a residency. Advantages are described, along with the need for close cooperation of faculty and staff of both hospitals. (LBH)

Experience on the traditional internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, and psychiatry clerkships was compared with the experience on a family medicine clerkship. The family medicine clerkship offered the most experience with circulatory, respiratory, digestive, neurological, musculoskeletal, and skin problems and with…

These guidelines are the product of a new Pediatric Asthma Initiative aimed at integrating environmental management of asthma into pediatric health care. This document outlines competencies in environmental health relevant to pediatric asthma that should be mastered by primary health care providers, and outlines the environmental interventions…

A study of the variety of primary care services provided by a 1977 dental school class's graduates in practice showed no correlation with urban or rural location, but the variety of services was predicted by the dentist's position in the practice and his predental school values, dental school aptitudes, and dental school achievement. (Author/MSE)

Examines social factors that lead to the development of learned helplessness in elderly persons in the health care setting, including stereotyping elderly by health care professionals, effects of unequal interpersonal exchange, and behaviors associated with sick and healer roles. Discusses programatic and educational prophylaxis and solutions to…

Suggests that counseling psychology has failed to take a leadership role in primary prevention, and community psychology has begun to fill that void. Suggests prevention is essential to the identity of the profession, and changes must be made in training programs to bridge the gap between public statements and reality. (JAC)

Colorado's area health education program, the SEARCH program, designed to alleviate the maldistribution of health manpower, is described. It recruits new professionals to underserved areas through student/resident rotations and retains those professionals already there by providing accessible continuing education. (Author/MLW)

Medical ethical problems involving the elderly elucidate the relation between broader social views of aging and ethical principles basic to medicine. Three clinical situations are described and alternative principles of medical ethics are discussed as a basis for resolution of ethical problems in the health care of the elderly. (Author)

At the New Jersey Medical School, an obligatory, multidisciplinary, fourth-year emergency medicine clerkship requires ambulance duty, emergency room rotation, medical specialty lectures, and a cardiac life support providers course. Particular problems associated with multidisciplinary courses are discussed. (Author/JMD)

A self-instructional health education program that utilizes a slide-tape device was studied to determine whether it could be educationally effective in an ambulatory clinical setting without being an inconvenience to patients. Infant and child nutrition was chosen as the topic to be used in the waiting room of a pediatric clinic. (JMD)

A review of 287 patient visits to a teaching hospital polyclinic shows that most patients had multiple problems that required the help of subspecialists. However, the patients' needs for accessibility, comprehensiveness, coordination, and continuity are as great as those of patients receiving primary care. Implications for academic internal…

The performance of psychiatric residents with various lengths of medical primary care internship during their first year of residency training are compared. The results suggest that first-year residents without a traditional 12 months medical internship are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with those with a year's internship. (JMD)

Project Porvenir functions as a manpower resource for primary health care systems developing in rural New Mexico. By providing supervised interdisciplinary teams of students in medicine, nursing, and pharmacy, Porvenir increases the service capabilities of the facilities with which it is affiliated. (LBH)