The Supreme Court ruled that state statutes providing a former patient with access to medical records applies only to institutions receiving state legislative appropriations. The narrow focus of the case will allow challenges to the scope and validity of this ruling. (SF)

Rochester, New York, physicians and graduate medical students' use of laboratory tests as applied to asymptomatic patients was surveyed and their knowledge of four specific screening procedures was tested. The results reinforce the impression that laboratory ordering practices are dependent in part upon factors other than knowledge of test…

Identifies instances where different treatments are given men and women and women get inferior therapy. Also notes times when similar treatments are given men and women but in a way appropriate only for males. Discusses both sex between patients and therapists and "the possible imposition of sex role stereotypes on females by their therapists."…

At a symposium on academic integrity in dental education, participants responded to questions about a case in which a dental student requested that a patient delay treatment so the student could perform it later to fulfill a requirement. Responses concern the ethics of the student's behavior, faculty behavior, and the patient's role in making…

Studied discharge plans for 369 African American and white elderly patients and examined posthospital care options pursued by social workers, patients, and families. Discharge planning with African American patients and family members involved less pursuit of nursing home care and more pursuit of formal services in the home than planning with…

Investigated outcomes of a medical course addressing social and cultural issues on students' awareness and understanding. Found that students failed to recognize, or even denied, the effects of race, class, gender, culture, and sexual orientation. Those who acknowledged the effect of social differences tended to deny social inequality, or at best…

The format and production of the portable patient problem pack, a patient simulation method designed for problem-based learning, are described. Clinical and didactic applications and development of materials specifically for optometric education are discussed and additional information for designing optometry-related materials is appended.…

To become better role models, higher educators in institutions of clinical education should be conscious of the behaviors they demonstrate and the broad range of activities and attitudes that students observe and emulate, including clinical competence, professional demeanor, doctor-patient interactions, ethical values, and social consciousness.…

Nurses' inability to describe and interpret the caring practices that are the foundation of the work they do with patients has seriously inhibited agreement on a valid definition of clinical competence and has restricted the understanding of the rich and powerful knowledge and skill embedded in the practice. (MLW)

The patient's body is an image that medical students and residents use to process information. The classic use of images using the patient is qualitative and personal. The contemporary use of images is quantitative and impersonal. The contemporary use of imaging includes radiographic, nuclear, scintigraphic, and nuclear magnetic resonance…

A medical school course on medical ignorance provides a series of seminars and clinical and laboratory experiences dealing with the extent of medical knowledge and ignorance as it relates to the practice of medicine and the physician's relationship with patients. (MSE)

A survey of patient debt management policies of dental programs is reported. The translation of a student's successful performance in a clinic setting to an academic failure based on a patient's failure to pay for services is not legally defendable. Fee collection should not be tied to student academic progress. (Author/MLW)

The nature of existing professional approaches to working with people with mental handicaps is explored, focusing on traditional medical and educational approaches and emerging styles including self-advocacy and normalization. Development of a range of lifestyle opportunities for people with mental handicaps is supported, and implications for…

Articles in this special issue look at ethical issues in aging in geriatric care, improving care of the dying, the value of autonomy and respect, the role of religion in health-related decisions, protection of nursing facility residents, physician-assisted dying, conflict resolution in nursing homes, and dealing with patients' demands for…

Investigated the psychiatric comorbidity, health, and functioning of 1,000 primary care patients with alcohol abuse and dependence (AAD). Psychiatric symptomatology was assessed with the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) diagnostic system, which resulted in a 71 percent increase in physician recognition of AAD. Other findings…