Twenty-five Indian patients at a Public Health Service clinic indicated that inadequate communication influenced by age, English fluency, and cultural differences contributed to abuses in the health care system. Journal availability: see RC 503 481. (DS)

Proactive counselor intervention requires recognition of the pattern of client requests for service. Five midwestern university counseling centers supplied usage data on client contacts. Counselors accurately reported the pattern but based it on perception of total contacts rather than initial contacts. (Author)

Teams of students, teachers, administrators, and others from school districts received training to carry out drug education programs in their home school districts. There was a moderate relationship between socioeconomic status of a school district and implementation of drug education programs by its team. (Author)

To provide objective evaluation of students' physical diaonosis skills, nonphysician patient instructors (PIs) with stable positive findings were trained by physicians to function in the multiple roles of patient, teacher, and evaluator. Medical students examine the PIs and are evaluated by them on their technique and diagnosis ability.…

Analysis of correlations between Verbal and Full Scale IQ scores for 231 high-IQ psychiatric outpatients indicated that Verbal IQ appears partially valid as a WAIS short form for this higher IQ group. Results are interpreted in terms of Resnick and Entin's short form validity criteria. (Editor/SJL)

Two theories of hospital liability--respondeat superior and corporate negligence and the legal intricacies of the physician-hospital-patient relationship--that affect hospital liability are examined. The impact of Darling vs Charleston Memorial Hospital as a medicolegal precedent is emphasized. (BH)

An attempt was made to delineate the degree to which distortions in the perception of depression were related to the severity level of the patient's depression and the degree to which denial was utilized as a coping mechanism. (Author)

This commentary reviews the history and ideology of nondisclosure, considers the realities of modern treatment and record-keeping, and describes the contemporary legal dilemma in this context. Model legislation is proposed to provide patients a property right of direct access to their records. (LBH)

Since language is the predominant instrument by which information is transmitted between doctor and patient, an understanding of the uses and functions of language in medicine is crucial to effective medical care. This paper describes a framework for the study of language as a tool in medicine. (LBH)

The effects of therapist sex, client sex, and client pathology on treatment goals formulated by practicing psychotherapists were investigated. Practicing male and female psychotherapists recommended treatment goals for either two male or two female pseudoclients who differed in their presenting pathology, which was severe and clearly defined.…

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the validity of the Internal Revenue Service ruling that allows nonprofit hospitals to qualify as charitable institutions without requiring them to provide services at reduced rates for persons unable to pay. This is a reversal of existing law regarding tax exempt status for charitable…

Highly disturbed patients (N=75) were sent through the Silva Mind Control training to determine which patients might get into difficulty. Only one became appreciably more disturbed. The most consistent finding was a dramatic increase in reality testing, as determined clinically and on objective psychological testing. (Author)

Examined the health care needs, practices, insurance status, and concerns of 112 medical students, finding that one-third had informally requested prescriptions or diagnostic tests from medical school faculty and housestaff, and that women more often reported difficulty obtaining health care than men. The majority of students preferred to avoid…

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the underlying structure of negative symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). CFA results from the assessment of 401 patients were largely supported by CFA results from a second assessment of 345 patients. (SLD)

Examines the concepts of "symptom" and "diagnosis" from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on elements from cognitive linguistics, clinical decision-making research, and conversation analysis. Specific focus is on how prototype theory and the notion of fuzziness can enhance the understanding of these concepts. (29 references) (Author/CK)