The literature on health care for individuals with mental retardation is reviewed. Major topics include: specific needs of individuals with intellectual impairments, the role of parents in health care, the need for collaborative relationships between health care professionals and families of children with disabilities, and the need for specific…

In a culturally competent diabetes self-management intervention in Starr County, Texas, bilingual Mexican American nurses, dieticians, and community workers provided weekly instruction on nutrition, self-monitoring, exercise and other self-care topics. A biweekly support group promoted behavior change. Interviews and examinations with 256 Mexican…

A resource manual on cardiac rehabilitation education was developed for health workers providing patient education in rural and remote Queensland (Australia). A process evaluation of the manual received feedback from 5 key informants and 31 rural health care workers following a 3-month trial. Overall, feedback was positive. Recommended content…

A survey of Canadian staff members (n=22), rehabilitation patients (N=27), pacemaker patients (n=31), and family members of the patients (N=34) asked what they considered important to the patients' quality of life. Results found marked differences between the groups in the physical, psychological, and activity domains, indicating that quality of…

Provides a perspective from New Zealand on the role of medical education in addressing racism in medicine. New Zealand nursing curricula have introduced the concept of cultural safety as a means of conveying the idea that cultural factors critically influence the relationship between carer and patient. Describes a cultural immersion program for…

Describes a University of Ottawa program involving a French-language stream to train future physicians for the francophone minority population of Ontario. Francophone students conduct interviews in French in a communication skills laboratory while being observed by clinicians trained in observation and feedback techniques. Simulated patients play…

A study investigated the attitudes of 91 general practitioners who had individuals with mental retardation referred for further assessment and treatment. Those who reported dealing with a referral were more favorably disposed to undertake health screening within their practice, whereas those uninvolved continued to opt for specialist provision.…

The intent of an integrating laboratory was to help pharmacy students learn to solve problems, make decisions, and develop good communication skills. Educational units included exercises in guided design, patient profile review, patient inquiries, extemporaneous prescription compounding, clinical literature evaluation, and videotapes of simulated…

Measures the effectiveness of a medically oriented educational game in increasing knowledge and decreasing young children's fears regarding common medical procedures. Paired t-tests indicated a significant increase in children's knowledge of health care concepts and decrease in fear of medical procedures after the game was played. (BB)

Parents of 372 visually impaired children in Scotland were surveyed to determine the parents' knowledge of the child's eye condition, educational placement of the child, and registration status as blind or partially sighted. Results indicated that 50 percent of parents were dissatisfied with explanations of their child's visual impairment or…

Development of a behavioral test of surgeons' interpersonal skills involved applying a rating scale to videotape recordings of physician interactions with a gall bladder patient, at three intervals. Quality of communication was found to vary over the intervals. The instrument used was more sensitive to variation than a comparison scale.…

A program using role-playing to model humanistic attitudes and encourage humanistic behavior in internal medicine residents is described. Resident attitudes and key features relating to the program's success are noted. (MSE)

A study investigated changes in medical students' attitudes toward homosexuality following midyear freshman exposure to a panel presentation and after psychiatry clerkship. Group attitudes of three consecutive medical school classes were consistent, beginning and largely remaining in the "low-grade homophobic" category. An ongoing forum to explore…

The practice of requiring that children with disabilities undergo public medical examinations attended by numerous professional and student personnel is challenged. These discriminatory practices are attributed to uninformed attitudes of members of the medical establishment, and the implications for patients' quality of life are noted. (JDD)

Considers Directive to Physician, Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions, and Medical Ethics Decision Form. Notes importance of process individuals go through in defining what quality of life means to them. Sees current struggle being individual articulation of one's wishes based on personal definition of quality of life set forth in…