Journal of general internal medicine
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To determine whether antibiotic and bronchodilator treatment of acute bronchitis in patients without lung disease is efficacious. ⋯ Most studies showed no significant difference between drug and placebo, and the two studies that did showed only small clinical differences. Albuterol had an impressive advantage over erythromycin. Antibiotics should not be used in the treatment of acute bronchitis in healthy persons unless convincing evidence of a bacterial infection is present.
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This paper describes teaching and learning methods that can be used to build the competencies needed by the generalist physician. Supervised patient care, problem-based learning, and ongoing feedback through standardized patients all have proven efficacy in several domains. ⋯ The authors review each method's principles, relationship to generalist competencies, examples of effective applications, and challenges to successful implementation. Where possible, they summarize what is known about the relationships of learning and teaching methods to career choices in generalism.