Family medicine in the Russian far East.

Background And Objectives: Over the last decade, Russia and other former Soviet states have attempted to move from a fragmented health care system dominated by specialty and hospital care to one emphasizing primary care and prevention through the introduction of family medicine. This report describes the development of family medicine in Russia's Far East region.

Methods: The Far East was one of the first places in Russia to develop family medicine education.

From traditional to patient-centered learning: curriculum change as an intervention for changing institutional culture and promoting professionalism in undergraduate medical education.

The authors reframe a curriculum change from a traditional lecture-based to an integrated patient-centered approach as an intervention for changing the culture and hidden curriculum of an institution in ways that promote professionalism. Within this context, the authors articulate some of the inherent process and relational factors brought about by these curricular changes that are essential elements of this intervention process. In 1998 the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UNDSMHS) introduced a new preclinical patient-centered learning (PCL) curriculum for first- and second-year medical students.