A random sample of Miami University undergraduate and graduate students were surveyed to determine their opinions about health care at the university. Most of the questions dealt with the university's student health service and satisfaction with the quality of medical treatment at the facility, perception of the staff's performance and interest in…

Patient satisfaction with the attitudes and communication skills of first- and third-year medical students in a five-year program was found to be higher for the more advanced students and for women in general, and a weak positive correlation was found between patient and faculty assessments of the students. (MSE)

Selective enrollment of patients at a model family practice unit provides a full range of medical problems for residents. A computerized, problem-oriented medical record is used to help distribute families with selected chronic diseases equitably. Reallocation of families to new residents in cycles is logically planned and workloads are monitored.…

A biopsychosocial model used in an attempt to integrate physical, psychological, and social data into a matrix that facilitates clinical problem solving is described. The purpose of the training was to expand the resident's understanding of the emotional aspects of patients' problems and his/her own difficulties in using such understanding. (MLW)

A longitudinal study of 133 medical students at the University of Illinois used multiple clinical encounters with standardized patients to test student interpersonal and communication skills after the second and during the fourth year. Mean patient satisfaction improved from first to second encounter, and female students performed better than…

Discusses the effects of trends in health care services, including an emphasis on primary health care and patient involvement, on the information needs of health care professionals and managers. A proposed information network that would provide point of use access to sources of health care information is described. (three references) (CLB)

An ethnographic study of families (N=30) receiving genetic counseling explored participants' perceptions of the process. Focuses on respondents' confusion about the meaning of medical terms. Although clients approved of the way information was presented, terminology was often confusing or frightening. Specific examples are presented and discussed.…

Background: Although physicians are in a unique position to prevent life-threatening outcomes by counseling patients to stop smoking, many of them miss the opportunity to intervene in their patients' use of tobacco. Nicotine Dependence Across the Lifespan was developed as a continuing medical education (CME) program to teach and encourage…

Communication difficulties in multicultural clinical settings can be exacerbated by translators, but their actual impact on medical decisions has not been systematically evaluated. This study sought to determine the influence of translators participating in clinical encounters in which English-speaking clinicians offered amniocentesis to…

Objective: To explore and compare the use of metacognitive, cognitive, and environmental resource management self regulatory learning (SRL) strategies used by a national sample of students enrolled in traditional and accelerated baccalaureate nursing programs. Background: Learner focused reforms in nursing education require students to assume more…

Dr. Pete Anderson, a clinician and professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, entered the life of Anna and her family two years ago. Anna was referred to him because of his clinical research and expertise in pediatric oncology and multimodality therapies. Anna had been diagnosed with metastatic Ewing's Sarcoma, a form of bone…

Transitional care encompasses a broad range of services and environments designed to promote the safe and timely passage of patients between levels of health care and across care settings. High-quality transitional care is especially important for older adults with multiple chronic conditions and complex therapeutic regimens, as well as for their…

This is a tale of caregiving in two cities--and it was the best of times and the worst of times. In this article, the author describes the differences in the care given by nurses and social workers to her 90-year-old mother who died from metastatic colon cancer and to her husband who had traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident and was…

This report is primarily concerned with reporting on the normative results obtained on a large sample of serious adult offenders. An expanded Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery was administered to 584 adult offenders (OF), 132 normal controls (NC), and 494 acute psychiatric patients (PP). Subjects were between 18 and 44 years of age.…

This study examined the clinical utility of the Cross-Cultural (Chinese) Personality Inventory (CPAI-2) in differentiating the personality characteristics of Chinese men with substance use disorders from other psychiatric patients and normal control participants. The CPAI-2 profile of 121 Chinese men with substance use disorders was contrasted…