The skills of interns in obtaining body fluids for analysis were observed after six months of a categorical internal medicine program. The results suggest that training in the proper technique in lumbar puncture in medical schools is inadequate. Recommendations for improvement are offered. (LBH)

Major dimensions of consumer perceptions were identified using factor analysis of survey data as follows: accessibility, availability of family doctors, and of hospitals/specialists, completeness of facilities, continuity of care, and physician conduct. Conduct was clearly the most important factor in general satisfaction. (Author/LBH)

Examined functioning and life context of spouses of depressed patients. Remitted and control spouses were comparable in functioning, stressors, and coping with remitted spouses reporting more social and family problems. Nonremitted spouses had significantly more problems than control spouses on most indices. Spouse adaptation was typically…

Investigated use of cognitive/attentional distraction (via commercially available video games) to control conditioned nausea in pediatric cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Video game-playing resulted in significantly less nausea. The introduction and withdrawal of the opportunity to play video games produced significant changes (reduction…

Outlines the therapeutic process in social skills training with 22 socially dysfunctional outpatients who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for avoidant personality disorder. Measured performance of prosocial target behaviors and associated subjective anxiety during baseline, treatment, and follow-up periods.…

Reviews the ethical issues related to involuntary psychiatric treatment, including the conflicts between the principles of beneficence, autonomy, and nonmaleficence with regard to involuntary treatment for the patient's interests versus those of society. Describes moral problems as centering around disagreements regarding the patient's…

A five-year evaluation and redesign of the communication skills component of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course was undertaken at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse College of Medicine. One of the changes was the introduction of simulated patients for practicing interviewing skills. (Author/MLW)

A study involving volunteer clinical faculty members in a randomized education trial to improve patients' everyday functioning is described. Participants were 76 clinical faculty physicians in office practice of internal medicine, who completed an evaluation questionnaire at the end of the study. (Author/MLW)

Reviews the history of the problem of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill to community settings, outlines characteristics of the homeless mentally ill, and discusses steps to create a more responsive clinical network to cope with the problem. (Author/KS)

Explored private and public self-consciousness as measured by two subscales of Self-Consciousness Scale. Results from study of 60 college students support assumption that private and public subscales measure relatively stable traits. Psychiatric patient subjects (N=120) in second study differed from undergraduates in first study in strength of…

Examined relationship between measures of socioeconomic status and admissions to public mental hospitals in Ohio. Found strong relationship between aggregate of six variables from 1980 census and county admission rates over six-year period, indicating a strong relationship between measures of socioeconomic status and psychiatric impairment.…

Describes a training program developed and operated by parent educators at the Children's Health Council that is designed to help pediatric resident medical students at Stanford University in their efforts to understand parents better and give them useful advice on common child rearing questions. (BB)

A group of patient-centered comprehensive-care clinics revised its treatment planning system to better accommodate patient needs for information while still serving student needs for instruction and support. (MSE)

Presents a special series of seven articles dealing with biopsychosocial oncology, the role of psychology in cancer treatment. Includes an introduction by Lizette Peterson and articles by Thomas Burish and Michael Carey, Susan Jay et al., Shelley Taylor et al., David Cella and Susan Tross, Gerald Koocher, and Leonard Derogatis. (KS)

This study derives the economic costs of misclassification in nursing home patient classification systems. These costs are then used as weights to estimate the reliability of a functional assessment instrument. Results suggest that reliability must be redefined and remeasured with each substantively new application of an assessment instrument.…