OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the neonatal outcomes and intrapartum events conducted by staff versus resident physicians in full term vaginal deliveries. METHODS We divided study population (n = 5,007) into two groups: staff versus resident physicians. These two groups were sub-divided; faculty versus fellow and senior versus junior resident, respectively. The maternal ...

OBJECTIVE Errors of omission are a common cause of systems failures. Physicians often fail to order tests or treatments needed to monitor/ameliorate the effects of other tests or treatments. The authors hypothesized that automated, guideline-based reminders to physicians, provided as they wrote orders, could reduce these omissions. DESIGN The study was performed on the inpatient general medic...

In this issue, Chan et al. report interesting perspectives on the notion of ‘busyness’ in emergency departments (EDs) [1]. Specifically, they found that faculty and junior residents differed significantly in their conception of busyness and that faculty development around teaching managerial skills is deficient. We feel that the authors have outlined both an issue that cuts to the heart of what...

OBJECTIVE Aga Khan University, a private medical college, had a vision of producing physicians who are not only scientifically competent, but also socially sensitive, the latter by exposure of medical students to a broad-based curriculum. The objective of this study was to identify the genesis of broad-based education and its integration into the undergraduate medical education program as the H...

BACKGROUND Physicians have a unique role in teaching future physicians and allied health professionals. Yet, most medical doctors have limited instruction in this critical component of their daily activity. METHODS This study was a prospective cohort study of the effectiveness of a local teaching program at two teaching hospitals for junior faculty. Based on a needs analysis and literature re...

Primary care physicians are responsible for the initiation of the preventive health screening tests and examinations for their patients. Resident physicians may be uncomfortable obtaining a sexual history from their patient. A performance improvement project was carried out in the resident clinic to see if we could improve HIV screening of our patients. With a cohesive effort between the facult...

The role played by health care worker's uniforms on the horizontal transmission of organisms within the hospital is still controversial. To determine the differential laundering practices in regards to white coats and scrubs, we surveyed physicians present at the 3 weekly academic conferences with largest attendance at our hospital (medicine, pediatrics, and anesthesiology). Out of 160 provider...

Electronic communication between physicians and patients is common but can carry risks to users--both patients and physicians. Little is known about electronic communication between physicians and patients and even less about electronic communication during residency. We studied knowledge and practices before and after a controlled test of a novel curriculum teaching e-mail communication with p...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Teaching physical examination skills effectively, consistently, and cost-effectively is challenging. Faculty time is the most expensive resource. One solution is to train medical students using lay physical examination teaching associates. In this study, we investigated the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of training medical students using teaching a...