The high attrition rate of female physicians pursuing an academic medicine research career has not been examined in the context of career development theory. We explored how internal medicine residents and faculty experience their work within the context of their broader life domain in order to identify strategies for facilitating career…

Mismatches between the needs of public health systems and student interests have led to renewed study on the factors predicting career specializations among medical students. While most work examines career and lifestyle values, emotional proclivities may be important; disgust sensitivity may help explain preferences for careers with greater and…

Changes in certification requirements and examinee characteristics are likely to influence the validity of the evidence associated with interpretations made based on test data. We examined whether changes in Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification requirements over time were associated with changes in internal…

Introduction: Board certification has evolved from a "point-in-time" event to a process of periodic learning and reevaluation of medical competence through maintenance of certification (MOC). To better understand MOC participation, the transtheoretical model (TTM) was used to describe physicians' perceptions of MOC as a sequence of…

Objective: The authors examined the effect of supervision on internal medicine residents' attitudes toward and management of depression. Method: Internal medicine residents completed a survey during preclinical conferences. The survey included a published, validated questionnaire, the Depression Attitude Questionnaire, and items developed by the…

Objectives: Resident physicians report insufficient experience caring for patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). Resident training in Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) has been recommended. We describe the development of a standardized patient (SP) assessment to measure SBIRT skills, resident perceptions of…

Background: Due to significant medical improvements, persons with Down syndrome now live well into adulthood. Consequently, primary care for adults with Down syndrome needs to incorporate routine care with screening for condition-specific comorbidities. This study seeks to evaluate the adherence of primary care physicians to age- and…

Professional societies in the field of medicine have recommended that the traditional model for lifelong medical learning, which had previously focused on attendance at weeklong didactic continuing medical education (CME) courses, should be replaced by individualized study. Self-directed and practice-linked learning are well accepted in principle,…

Resident physicians' clinical training poses unique challenges for the delivery of safe patient care. Residents face special risks of involvement in medical errors since they have tremendous responsibility for patient care, yet they are novice practitioners in the process of learning and mastering their profession. The present study explores…

Internists are required to perform a number of procedures that require mastery of technical and non-technical skills, however, formal assessment of these skills is often lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and gather validity evidence for a procedural skills objective structured clinical examination (PS-OSCE) for internal…

Spatial abilities have been related in previous studies to three-dimensional (3D) anatomy knowledge and the performance in technical skills. The objective of this study was to relate spatial abilities to residency programs with different levels of content of 3D anatomy knowledge and technical skills. The hypothesis was that the choice of residency…

Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are used worldwide for summative examinations but often lack acceptable reliability. Research has shown that reliability of scores increases if OSCE checklists for medical students include only clinically relevant items. Also, checklists are often missing evidence-based items that high-achieving…

A growing group of inpatients on acute clinical teaching units have non-acute needs, yet require attention by the team. While anecdotally, these patients have inspired frustration and resource pressures in clinical settings, little is known about the ways in which they influence physician perceptions of the learning environment. This qualitative…

Studies of doctor-patient communication generally advocate a partnership communication style. However, in Southeast Asian settings, we often see a more one-way style with little input from the patient. We investigated factors underlying the use of a one-way consultation style by doctors in a Southeast Asian setting. We conducted a qualitative…

This study examined physicians' motivation to engage in work-related learning and its contribution to expertise development beyond work experience. Based on deliberate practice theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 residents and 28 experienced physicians in internal medicine, focusing on the activities they engaged in during…