BACKGROUND Nearly all family physicians have patients that engender a sense of frustration or dislike, often described as "difficult." Most research in this area focuses on describing these patients and their physicians, not management or coping. OBJECTIVE To describe how respected family physicians identify, manage, and cope with difficult patient encounters. METHODS Qualitative semi-struc...

In the USA, there are well-described racial disparities in medical care with black patients, as well as other racial and ethnic minorities, consistently faring worse than white patients across specialties and diagnoses. Similar disparities have been found among black and minority ethnic patients in the UK. 3 A 2002 report by the USA Institute of Medicine (IOM) determined that the ‘quality of ca...

OBJECTIVE To determine the knowledge, attitudes, and interest in providing medical abortion reported by family physicians and residents in rural and urban settings. DESIGN A self-administered mailed survey using the modified Dillman method. SETTING Hamilton and Thunder Bay County in Ontario. PARTICIPANTS Family medicine residents (n = 93) and physicians (n = 234) in predominantly urban (H...

In an interesting article Wieteke van Dijk and colleagues argue that societal developments and values influence the practice of medicine, and thus can result in both medicalisation and overdiagnosis. They provide a convincing argument that overdiagnosis emerges in a social context and that it has socially constructed implications. However, they fail to show that overdiagnosis per se is socially...

This activity offers CE credits for: 1. Physicians (CME) 2. Other ACTIVITY GOAL To understand the conceptual framework for integrating biomedicine and Asian medicine. LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this CE activity, participants should be able to: • Discuss the limitations and advantages of biomedicine and Asian medicine • Assess when it is more beneficial to use biomedicine and when Asian m...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) designates enhanced continuing Medical education (CME) credit (evidence based [EB] CME) to activities that meet specific criteria incorporating EB medicine principles. However, little is known about the effect of this innovation on EB-CME faculty or their learners. METHODS Subjects were faculty presenters and participa...

PURPOSE To identify deficit types and predictors of poor academic outcomes among students, residents, fellows, and physicians referred to the University of Colorado School of Medicine's remediation program. METHOD During 2006-2012, 151 learners were referred. After a standardized assessment process, program faculty developed individualized learning plans that incorporated deliberate practice,...

PROBLEM Although more female physicians and scientists are choosing careers in academic medicine, women continue to be underrepresented as medical school faculty, particularly at the level of full professor and in leadership positions. Effective interventions to support women in academic medicine exist, but the nature and content of such programs varies widely. APPROACH Women in medicine prog...