This investigation was conducted to determine the effect of video-taped role modeling on patient-reported level of anxiety at the beginning of dental treatment and the long term effects of the modeling tape as evidenced by appointment cancellations and failure rate. Subjects completed the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)…

Major problem areas in evaluating token economies for psychiatric inpatients are identified and discussed. Three categories of methodological deficiencies frequently encountered in the token economy literature are described: (1) inadequate specification of treatment procedures; (2) insufficient or inadequately described dependent measures; and (3)…

A course for senior nursing students focuses on the health problems and belief systems of minority clients and how these affect their health care. Based on a holistic and epidemiological approach to health care, the seven week course includes theory and clinical practice which students found stimulating and useful. (Author/MS)

A literature review on doctor-shopping, anxiety, etc., and a report of a study that explores the relationship of free-floating anxiety to the pharmacy-shopping behavior of elderly, clinic outpatients are presented. Implications for the training of pharmacists are discussed. (JMD)

Computer-based simulations of the patient-physician encounter have been used at the University of Wisconsin Medical School for five years. They have been used to permit students to gain clinical experience, as part of a series of structured teaching conferences, and in a medical testing program. Student and faculty response is favorable.…

Management of a spinal cord injury is used as a model to discuss the medical adjustment problems occurring with severe physical handicaps. Topics include the stages of preadmission/admission rehabilitation evaluation, comprehensive rehabilitation treatment, patient communication, patient and family conference, and discharge and follow-up. This…

Characteristics of nursing homes perceived as effective and efficient by other administrators and persons in state government are compared to characteristics of nursing homes across the nation. Facilities perceived as efficient and effective had more staff, were certified for more levels of care, had more beds, and higher occupancy rates. (Author)

Thirty students were placed in a traditional or one of two experimental courses that each used television and simulation but differed in the way the history-taking demonstrations were presented. Videotapes of later history-taking from a simulated patient indicated that students in experimental courses obtained more information and used more…

A system of patient handling was devised at the University of Virginia. All unscheduled primary care patients as well as walk-in patients making their third visit were seen in the Attending Clinic to assure a proper disposition. Data on this system and its usefulness in maintaining continuity are presented. (Editor/LBH)

Medical educators must acquaint students with the advantages of assessing the patient's total needs and of utilizing a broad range of services to help the patient achieve his fullest health potential. A schema is described for implementing the comprehensive health care concept. (Author/LBH)

Focuses upon the role of social work and the social worker within the health care system. Favors a team approach to health care, with medical professionals, social workers, and patients all playing important roles. Emphasizes health education and health planning as future domains of social service practitioners. (GC)

This paper focuses on stress felt by nurses over responsibility for controlling illness and death which indicated an unconscious confusion between the feeling of being responsible for the care of an ill or dying patient and the feeling of being responsible for the occurrence of the patient's illness or death. (Author)

The effectiveness of an educational program in decreasing utilization of the prothrombin time determination as a routine admission laboratory test by house staff physicians at a teaching hospital was studied. The results emphasize the need to measure the long-term outcome of educational programs aimed at modifying the clinical behavior of…

Students in undergraduate surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston participated in a comparison study of bedside teaching and small group seminars. No special advantage for bedside teaching could be documented when two very similar groups of students were evaluated. (LBH)