Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Comparative Study
Psychometric properties of a standardized-patient checklist and rating-scale form used to assess interpersonal and communication skills.
The results show that the SP checklist scores and the SP ratings of interpersonal and communication skills have comparable psychometric properties. The reliabilities of the five-item rating form (.76) and the single global rating of patient satisfaction (.70) were slightly higher than the reliability of the 17-item checklist (.65); this finding is of particular significance, given the greater length of the checklist. Also, the checklist scores and ratings appear to be measuring the same underlying dimension, with correlations of the checklist with the five ratings and with the single global rating being .82 and .81, respectively. ⋯ Thus, the faculty ratings would provide a basis for case development and refinement, including scoring and standard setting, and scores on the checklist would serve as a proxy for the gold-standard faculty ratings. The study suggests that SP ratings may be more efficient and more reliable than SP checklists for assessing interpersonal and communication skills. The study also demonstrates that global ratings by SPs (or by expert physician observers) can provide a basis for SP-test construction.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Standardized patients as a measure of change in the ability of family physicians to detect and manage alcohol abuse.
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Little is known about how internal medicine residents train for and practice telephone management. To address this deficiency, a national survey of program directors at accredited internal medicine training sites was conducted to evaluate residents' training for and practice of telephone medicine. ⋯ Few internal medicine programs offered training in telephone management. When training occurred, it was usually limited and informal. Most program directors felt that training was important and that current training efforts were unsatisfactory, emphasizing the need for curriculum development and implementation in telephone management.
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Accustomed to congressional and industry support, patient-centered clinical research is at a crossroads in 1995. Forced to look into the next century by the seven-year budget cycle selected by Congress, its path seems hindered by threatened cuts in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), cost pressures on private-sector organizations that support research initiatives, and market restraints on the academic health centers that traditionally have served as research bases for many clinical investigators. ⋯ How these issues are approached--let alone resolved--is significant not only for the future of clinical research but also for the health of the public. The author discusses these issues and concludes with a list of specific questions that must be addressed in confronting policy issues of clinical research.