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Access to well trained and motivated health workers is the major rural health issue. Without local access, it is unlikely that people in rural and remote communities will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Studies in many countries have shown that the three factors most strongly associated with entering rural practice are: (i) a rural background; (ii) positive clinical and edu...

Evidence-based medicine is an increasingly important concept in continuing medical education and medical school curricula. To cope with the rapid evolution of medicine, physicians need to remain abreast of the many new therapies and diagnostic tools that affect their practices. Unfortunately, along with the many changes there is also a surplus of relevant written material. Physicians are unable...

Participants of the second colloquium of the Residency Review and Redesign in Pediatrics (R(3)P) Project considered 3 primary questions: What is a "good doctor"? How do we make one? and How do we know when we have made one? Experts from other countries and other medical specialties helped participants wrestle with these most basic questions. Participants emerged with a better feeling of the uti...

The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (hereafter the Mayo Foundation), the precursor to the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, was incorporated in 1915. The Mayo Foundation, which was affiliated with the University of Minnesota Graduate School, aimed to establish a higher standard for training medical specialists. Together, the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Found...

BACKGROUND Student mentoring is an important aspect of undergraduate medical education. While medical schools often assign faculty advisors to medical students as mentors to support their educational experience, it is possible for the students to pursue mentors informally. The possible role of these informal mentors and their interactions with the students in a faculty mentorship program has no...

OBJECTIVE To determine the views of general practitioners about professional reaccreditation. DESIGN Postal questionnaire. SUBJECTS All 278 general practitioner principals working in Cleveland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES General practitioner characteristics; attitudes to reaccreditation; and views on the development, conduct, content, and format of reaccreditation. RESULTS 210 out of 278 (76...

BACKGROUND Although medical school typically lasts 4 years, little attention has been devoted to the structure of the educational experience that takes place during the final year of medical school. SUMMARY In this perspectives paper, we outline goals for the 4th year of medical school to facilitate a transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education. We provide recommendations for ...

Reflection is a metacognitive process that creates a greater understanding of both the self and the situation so that future actions can be informed by this understanding. Self-regulated and lifelong learning have reflection as an essential aspect, and it is also required to develop both a therapeutic relationship and professional expertise. There are a variety of educational approaches in unde...

Effective quality assurance actfvftfes that improve the delivery of health services to the publfc are of particular concern to the American College of Physicians. The College is committed to mafntafnfng hfgh standards of quality in the delivery of health services and believes that quality assurance mechanisms can be an effective means for achieving this goal. Some of the College's efforts to en...