W. Blair Brooks

A survey of primary care physicians’ perceptions and needs regarding the precepting of medical students in their offices

To assess the interest, perceptions, and needs of primary care physicians with regard to office‐based precepting of medical students.

Computer use among community-based primary care physician preceptors.

Purpose. Use of the Internet to access biomedical information in patient care has important implications in medical education. Little is known about how community-based clinical teachers use computers in their offices and what factors, such as age, may influence use. Method. A total of 178 active community-based primary care preceptors were mailed a 15-item questionnaire about their computer equipment; Internet use; and specific applications in patient care, patients’ education, medical students’ or residents’ education, or accessing other clinical and/or research information. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, chi-square for comparisons of categorical data and analysis of variance (ANOVA) mixed model for comparisons of continuous variables. All tests were two-tailed with alpha set at .05 to determine statistical significance. Results. In all, 129 preceptors responded (73%). Office computer availability was high (92%). The Internet as a clinical information resource was used most frequently (98%) and MD Consult and Medline-EBM were used less frequently (20% and 21%, respectively). No statistical differences were found in routine use by age of preceptor; frequency of use did differ. Preceptors 60 years or older were four times more likely to use the Internet to assist in students’ and residents’ education (p = .02) and at least twice as likely to use full text Medline articles for patient care decisions (p = .05) than their younger colleagues. Decreased computer use was related to lack of time (45%) or other logistical reasons (40%), such as the computers distance from the patient care areas or slow connections. Conclusions. Rates of computer access and Internet connectivity were high among community-based preceptors of all ages. Uses of specific online clinical and/or educational resources varied by preceptors’ age with more rather than less use among older preceptors, an unexpected finding.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Cluster Groups Among Chronically Ill Patients: Relationship to Illness Adjustment and Treatment Outcome

Cluster analysis of the MMPI has been utilized widely in the chronic low back pain literature to try to identify reliable patient subtypes predictive of treatment outcome. We extended this methodology to patients with heterogeneous chronic medical conditions by replicating prototypic MMPI cluster group profiles and by relating cluster groups to clinical baseline and outcome data. Subjects were two independent samples (n=254 and n=263) of chronically ill patients admitted to an inpatient medicine/psychiatry unit. Using a four-cluster solution, similar cluster profile groups were replicated in both samples. Consistent differences emerged between cluster groups on functional impairment, psychiatric diagnoses, depression, and psychosomatic symptoms. Cluster group membership also predicted changes in functional impairment and depression six months after treatment. Results are discussed in terms of similarities between chronic low back pain and chronic illness and tailoring treatment to different patient types.

A collaborative model for supporting community-based interdisciplinary education.

Development and support of community-based, interdisciplinary ambulatory medical education has achieved high priority due to on-site capacity and the unique educational experiences community sites contribute to the educational program. The authors describe the collaborative model their school developed and implemented in 2000 to integrate institution- and community-based interdisciplinary education through a centralized office, the strengths and challenges faced in applying it, the educational outcomes that are being tracked to evaluate its effectiveness, and estimates of funds needed to ensure its success. Core funding of

Obesity perceptions and documentation among primary care clinicians at a rural academic health center.

180,000 is available annually for a centralized office, the keystone of the model described here. With this funding, the office has (1) addressed recruitment, retention, and quality of educators for UME; (2) promoted innovation in education, evaluation, and research; (3) supported development of a comprehensive curriculum for medical school education; and (4) monitored the effectiveness of community-based education programs by tracking product yield and cost estimates needed to generate these programs. The models Teaching and Learning Database contains information about more than 1,500 educational placements at 165 ambulatory teaching sites (80% in northern New England) involving 320 active preceptors. The centralized office facilitated 36 site visits, 22% of which were interdisciplinary, involving 122 preceptors. A total of 98 follow-up requests by community-based preceptors were fulfilled in 2000. The current submission-to-funding ratio for educational grants is 56%. Costs per educational activity have ranged from

The utility of the Psychosomatic Symptom Checklist among hospitalized patients

811.50 to

Educational Epidemiology: Applying Population-Based Design and Analytic Approaches to Study Medical Education

1,938, with costs per preceptor ranging from

The effect of an extract of green and black tea on glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus : double-blind randomized study

101.40 to

Using Early Clinical Experiences to Integrate Quality-improvement Learning into Medical Education

217.82. Cost per product (grants, manuscripts, presentations) in research and academic scholarship activities was

Educational epidemiology [1] (multiple letters)

2,492. The model allows the medical school to balance institutional and departmental support for its educational programs, and to better position itself for the ongoing changes in the health care system.