A survey of 120 medical schools found 61 percent have curricula on professional liability. Many indicated students' training has been compromised or jeopardized by physicians' concerns about medicolegal issues, and many had students named in malpractice suits. Findings suggest issues of professional liability have significantly affected…

The strategy used by one health maintenance organization (HMO) for balancing residents' training needs and patient health problems, often limited and routine in an HMO, is to allocate patients to residents by matching them with curriculum content. A process for handling patient resistance to such an arrangement was also instituted. (MSE)

A discussion of medical ethics in the medical curriculum reviews its recent history, examines areas of consensus, and describes teaching objectives and methods, course content, and program evaluation at preclinical and clinical levels. Prerequisites for successful institutionalization of medical ethics education are defined, and its future is…

It is argued that the medical school curriculum should include content on jurisprudence to empower physicians to use the law and their legal colleagues to serve patients and promote public welfare. Developing practitioners' skills and changing attitudes are seen as more important than imparting information about particular doctrines and laws. (MSE)

A survey of 111 medical schools found 12 provided no formal teaching in death and dying, 30 provided 1 or 2 lectures in the first 2 years, 51 taught it as a module of a larger course, and 18 offered it as an elective. A Yale School of Medicine seminar uses patients as teachers. (Author/MSE)

A survey of residents (N=323) in 6 internal medicine programs investigated the topics students wanted included in the medical ethics curriculum and by which of 17 methods they would prefer to be taught. About three-fourths had previous medical ethics instruction, and most wanted more on specific topics, especially legal and end-of-life issues.…

Review of the use of preclinical curricular time for laboratory exercises at the Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) medical school 1955-89 found a 92 percent decrease in hours devoted to animal and human physiology. Advantages of inclusion of such exercises are seen to outweigh disadvantages, and efforts to revitalize them are recommended.…

It is proposed that integration of religious studies into existing courses in the medical curriculum can help foster medical students' respect for patient individuality within a cultural context, heighten self-awareness of beliefs and values as professional resources, address value-laden aspects of patient encounters, and strengthen commitment to…

The design of medical school curriculum information systems for use by faculty, students, and staff is explored. A system is explained to contain the objectives, content, and/or educational activities that compose the curriculum. Three distinct system designs are discussed: a curriculum database (most helpful for administrators), a curriculum…

A discussion of the place of medical history in the undergraduate medical curriculum looks at the evolution and trends in this area of instruction from the late 19th century to the present. Curriculum models and teacher qualifications are examined. An annotated bibliography of medical history sources is included. (MSE)

A national survey of medical educators investigated the frequency of inclusion of international health topics in 25 medical schools' curricula and compared them with ratings of the topics' importance by 22 expert faculty. Results indicate general agreement and are recommended as guidelines for preparing medical students for international health…

This article reviews the 25-year history of undergraduate medical ethics education. Alternatives to the traditional model that focus more directly on students' personal values, attitudes, and behavior, are discussed. Three incipient trends are identified: everyday ethics, student ethics, and macro-ethics. Specific course and curricula are used as…

A survey of 127 hospice physicians attempted to identify appropriate performance objectives for medical training in care of the terminally ill. The 39 objectives identified covered physician attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Thirty-four of the objectives were validated. The list of objectives with their ratings is included. (MSE)

Issues concerning inclusion of ethics instruction in the medical school curriculum are discussed, including whether ethics should be presented as a body of knowledge or matter of professional identity and the "hidden curriculum" of medicine as a form of socialization. Recommendations for the structuring of an ethics curriculum are…

An imaginary curriculum on use of information technology for medical purposes is described. The six core courses address these topics: introduction to complexity; decisions and outcomes; scarcity and conflict; teamwork and organizations; representing knowledge and action; and groupware and collaboration. The curriculum is based on the conception…