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We surveyed pediatric oncologists throughout the United States and families of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia diagnosed between 1977 and 1980 at Children's Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, DC, to determine... more
We surveyed pediatric oncologists throughout the United States and families of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia diagnosed between 1977 and 1980 at Children's Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, DC, to determine what information is perceived by both parents and physicians as essential to convey during the initial presentation of a life-threatening diagnosis. Both groups considered the following topics critical for discussion at the initial conference: diagnosis and prognosis of disease, explanation of disease process, additional tests needed to confirm and/or supplement the diagnosis, immediate therapeutic plan, and the physician's availability. Additionally, both parents and physicians, with minor variations, agreed about the order in which information about the disease should be conveyed. Although acute lymphocytic leukemia was used as a model, this study suggests guidelines that could be utilized to train residents and guide physicians in crisis-counseling techniques in the presentation to parents of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness in their child.
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The information explosion, the plethora of continuing medical education activities, the complexities and fragmentation of graduate and postgraduate training and the need for cost containment and faculty development all contributed to the... more
The information explosion, the plethora of continuing medical education activities, the complexities and fragmentation of graduate and postgraduate training and the need for cost containment and faculty development all contributed to the decision to create an office of paediatric medical education (OPME) at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center. To plan and prepare strategies for this office, we surveyed all 150 moderate-to-large US paediatric programmes to elicit information about the educational organization of paediatric departments, including administration, staffing, funding, responsibilities, and level of involvement; and the current needs in paediatric medical education. The results suggest that there is a trend towards formalizing education in paediatrics. Thirty-eight per cent (33) of those responding reported OPMEs, with most (86 per cent) of the OPMEs evolving within the last decade and 50 per cent within the last five years. Respondents cited as a priority the need for better organization of medical education to improve the quality of teaching and learning and thus achieve higher quality and more cost-effective health care.
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In 1981 the Association of American Medical Colleges created a panel on the General Professional Education of the Physician (GPEP) in response to the concern that physicians of today are not responding to the total well-being and needs of... more
In 1981 the Association of American Medical Colleges created a panel on the General Professional Education of the Physician (GPEP) in response to the concern that physicians of today are not responding to the total well-being and needs of patients and their families. The panel assessed the current approaches to the education of physicians and concluded that, with new technical advances and the changing face of medicine, our present system of general professional education will be outdated and inadequate without new approaches to learning and teaching. In addition, mounting pressures have been exerted on most faculty to produce research, to generate increasing patient revenues through practice plans, and to actively participate in residency training, with less emphasis on student education. Therefore, the medical student has the responsibility to independently learn the majority of medical information, since faculty and residents are available to teach for only a limited amount of time.
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Although there has been an emphasis on career satisfaction in pediatrics and on motivators that impact on resident career selection, little attention has been directed toward the career development process in pediatric residency training.... more
Although there has been an emphasis on career satisfaction in pediatrics and on motivators that impact on resident career selection, little attention has been directed toward the career development process in pediatric residency training. This report summarizes the results of a survey conducted of 155 pediatric residency program directors about their counseling practices. Implications of the results and recommendations are discussed to improve this process.
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The learning styles and preferences of health professionals have been studied increasingly over the past decade, yet few relationships have been found between doctors' career choices and learning styles. One of the problems of... more
The learning styles and preferences of health professionals have been studied increasingly over the past decade, yet few relationships have been found between doctors' career choices and learning styles. One of the problems of relating learning styles to specialty choice is that learning style instruments measure how an individual perceives and processes information in learning situations. This study re-examines doctors' career choices utilizing a learning preference inventory which assesses how one chooses to approach a learning situation. The study results indicate that there are significant differences in doctors' approaches to learning and interacting with others among the different career specialties using a learning preference inventory. This is in contrast to previous research with Kolb's Learning Style Inventory in which learning style was not found to be related to career choice.
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The purpose of the study reported here was to compare two teaching formats, the traditional lecture and the case presentation, to determine which technique is more effective in continuing medical education (CME). Effectiveness was... more
The purpose of the study reported here was to compare two teaching formats, the traditional lecture and the case presentation, to determine which technique is more effective in continuing medical education (CME). Effectiveness was measured by assessing pediatricians' cognitive knowledge utilizing preinstruction and postinstruction multiple-choice tests, the physicians' performances using simulated patients, and the physicians' office records on diagnoses and treatment plans. There were differences between the two teaching techniques in regard to their impact on physicians' knowledge and their performance with patients. Physicians attending case presentation sessions were more likely to increase their cognitive knowledge than physicians attending the lecture sessions, but retention of knowledge was only slightly higher for the case presentation group than the lecture group. More simulated mothers making visits to the offices of pediatricians who had been in the case presentation group reported feeling that the physicians' plans for their children were totally or partially appropriate than did mothers visiting pediatricians from the lecture group. There were few correlations between the physicians' cognitive knowledge and their performances. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations are suggested for use in planning CME.