Patients with lesions of the left hemisphere often suffer from oral-facial apraxia, apraxia of speech, and aphasia. In these patients, visual features often play a critical role in speech and language therapy, when pictured lip shapes or the therapist's visible mouth movements are used to facilitate speech production and articulation. This demands…

An area of visual communication that might be classified as a "design failure" is the visual presentation of information about "prescription-only medicines" for patients. This information is provided on packaging, leaflets, brochures, labels and websites. The practical issue is that there are problems in convincing patients to…

Eighteen works, including summaries, are cited in this bibliography. Topics include the nature of medical encounters; power, gender, and discourse change in physician-patient interviews; women's language in the medical interview; nurses' communication with physicians; and language patterns in therapeutic change. (JP)

In the context of a move toward physician participation in counseling patients to reduce risk factors and promote healthy lifestyles, a study was done of whether medical students perceive themselves to be self-efficacious in educating patients for health promotion and of how various educational experiences help to develop self-efficacy. The study…

A national study of inpatient education was conducted in 1975 by the American Hospital Association to obtain a current assessment of organized patient education programs in hospitals in order to guide the subsequent development of effective inpatient education programs. The survey sought information about organizational structures relating to…

The results of the Physician-Patient Situation Test given before and after an interviewing course taught at the University of Texas at Houston in 1977 are reported. It is suggested that medical students can increase receptivity to patients and that an interviewing course can foster the acquisition of empathic skills. (LBH)

The implementation of a psychiatric outpatient experience for a first class of junior medical students in a nonmedical model community mental health clinic is presented. Advantages and disadvantages of exposing students to a community-oriented, rather than a medical center-oriented, treatment system are detailed, including differences in patient…

Simulated patients can standardize the presentation of a patient problem, and, if the patients are employed in an assessment, the assessment can have an objectivity similar to that of written tests. The results and feasibility of using simulated patients in an assessment are described. (Author/MLW)

The use of trained gynecologic teaching associates (GTAs) in providing instruction on the gynecologic examination is discussed. GTAs work in pairs; while one provides instruction, the other serves as a model. A study to measure student anxiety and confidence during the examination is described. (MLW)

Plain Doctoring, an elective, preclinical seminar on the phenomenology of the patient and the physician at Harvard Medical School, is described. Home visits serve as the major text for examining the patient's experience of illness and treatment. Readings in the humanities complement the house calls. (Author/MLW)

Three factors that will have major effects on the medical cost quality debate are: industrial and governmental policy in regard to health-related expenditures, an aging population, and societal attitudes towards competition in the health care system. Approaches to conflict resolution are offered. (MLW)

The use of psychiatric patients in teaching interview technique to medical students is studied through a survey of participating patients and medical students. The experience was judged by both patients and students as useful, with more students than patients reporting the experience as being stressful. (Author/JMD)

Five strategies for teaching medical students in the ambulatory care setting are described: wave scheduling; orienting learners to patients; having learners do case presentations in the examination room; using the "one-minute preceptor"; and reflecting on teaching to develop effective teaching scripts. The techniques are based on…

Research has not yet identified the best combination of estrogen replacement, calcium, and exercise for fighting osteoporosis, but clinical experience indicates all are needed to prevent the rapid bone loss that occurs in postmenopausal women. Physicians must encourage women to reduce their risk using all available options. (SM)

In traditional psychoanalysis, patients recline on a couch in a way that prevents patients and analysts from seeing each other's faces. This has been argued to have significant effects, both positive and negative, on patients' treatment. The use of the couch creates an unusual communicative situation in which both parties are physically but not…