A study investigated translation problems arising in physician-patient interviews conducted in two languages with the help of an interpreter. Subjects were four adult native speakers of Gujarati, aged 42-70, whose physician interviews were videotape-recorded and translated, and the discourse was analyzed. Patients spoke in Gujarati, and the…

When patients do not possess the same background knowledge, or schemata, as the Western medical practitioner, they are unable to understand fully what is communicated because they do not have the necessary conceptual framework for integrating the information presented. A study demonstrated how the absence of shared concepts between doctor and…

Family-physician relationships were examined in terms of solo vs group physician practices in two rural southern counties of different socioeconomic status. Comparatively speaking, County B was poorer, had a much higher representation of blacks, had lost considerable population during 1960-70, depended to a much lesser degree on manufacturing, and…

The results of the Physician-Patient Situation Test given before and after an interviewing course taught at the University of Texas at Houston in 1977 are reported. It is suggested that medical students can increase receptivity to patients and that an interviewing course can foster the acquisition of empathic skills. (LBH)

The implementation of a psychiatric outpatient experience for a first class of junior medical students in a nonmedical model community mental health clinic is presented. Advantages and disadvantages of exposing students to a community-oriented, rather than a medical center-oriented, treatment system are detailed, including differences in patient…

Small groups of medical students are asked to enact a situation in which family members visit their general practitioner with a problem regarding one of the children, and the diffusion of this problem within the family is traced during the course of the simulation. Discussion focuses on the feelings evoked by the simulation. (Author/LBH)

Simulated patients can standardize the presentation of a patient problem, and, if the patients are employed in an assessment, the assessment can have an objectivity similar to that of written tests. The results and feasibility of using simulated patients in an assessment are described. (Author/MLW)

The use of trained gynecologic teaching associates (GTAs) in providing instruction on the gynecologic examination is discussed. GTAs work in pairs; while one provides instruction, the other serves as a model. A study to measure student anxiety and confidence during the examination is described. (MLW)

The effect of experience in counseling cancer patients and their families on third-year medical students' attitudes toward cancer was studied at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Using the Cancer Attitude Scale, assessment included attitudes toward patients' inner resources, attitudes about early diagnosis and aggressive treatment, and…

Plain Doctoring, an elective, preclinical seminar on the phenomenology of the patient and the physician at Harvard Medical School, is described. Home visits serve as the major text for examining the patient's experience of illness and treatment. Readings in the humanities complement the house calls. (Author/MLW)

Three factors that will have major effects on the medical cost quality debate are: industrial and governmental policy in regard to health-related expenditures, an aging population, and societal attitudes towards competition in the health care system. Approaches to conflict resolution are offered. (MLW)

Low literate patients face difficulties when they read health care information. The complex process of reading can be summarized in five steps: input, decoding, encoding, output, and feedback. Each occurs automatically for the fluent reader; the low literate reader might encounter stumbling blocks in one or more of the steps. Once the patient has…

An alcoholism segment in a behavioral medicine course is described that consists of didactic presentations, videotaped clinical material, patient interviews; and small group Socratic discussion. The course provides an introduction to patient-oriented clinical skills, gives awareness of stereotyping, and addresses social and individual…

Medical education and practice have been changed by the success of biomedical research and by the increasing role of government in medicine. The future physician will require a strong background in the basic medical sciences, as well as highly developed clinical skills. (Author/MLW)

The use of psychiatric patients in teaching interview technique to medical students is studied through a survey of participating patients and medical students. The experience was judged by both patients and students as useful, with more students than patients reporting the experience as being stressful. (Author/JMD)