Using learning theory, interprofessional facilitation competencies, and behavioral indicators to evaluate facilitator training.

Despite the increasing need for faculty and preceptors skilled in interprofessional facilitation (IPF), the relative novelty of the field poses a challenge to the development and evaluation of IPF programs. We use learning theory and IPF competencies with associated behavioral indicators to develop and evaluate six key messages in IPF training and experience. Our mixed methods approach included two phases: quantitative data collection with embedded qualitative data, followed by qualitative data collection in explanatory sequential fashion.

Some hidden costs of faculty turnover in clinical departments in one academic medical center.

Purpose: To calculate the costs of clinical faculty turnover in clinical departments at The University of Arizona College of Medicine, including some aspects of lost clinical income.

Method: Turnover was defined as the number of faculty in each department who left in any given year, divided by the total number of faculty with appointments in the department during the same year. Turnover rates for generalists, surgeons, and nonsurgical clinical faculty by rank were computed from 1999 through 2004 for all clinical departments at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Phoenix rises, with Tucson's help: establishing the first four-year allopathic program in the nation's fifth largest city.

The authors describe the expansion of The University of Arizona College of Medicine from Tucson, Arizona, into Phoenix. They explain how the new Phoenix program, in partnership with Arizona State University, is one college of medicine for the state of Arizona, governed by a single accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME). The authors present 21 lessons to be considered early in a medical school expansion process: clearly establish responsibility, authority, and accountability; define activities under university purview and those that require broader engagement; delineate college-wide versus campus-specific functions; clearly define the intent of the new initiative; get frequent input from the LCME; use LCME input to ensure a student focus; be cautious in using consultants; use respected local "brokers"; create a single locus for input and concerns; educate constituencies about medical school requirements; engage leadership to create linkages across sites; encourage communication between leaders in both sites; discriminate between shared and distinctive local curriculum elements; consider the effort and experience required to develop a full curriculum versus those required to develop specific local curricular areas; create simple, transparent admission processes; define faculty profiles for the new program; ensure sufficient resources for core faculty; budget based on national metrics; create core mission-based principles to frame discussions and decisions; segregate clinical affiliation discussions from curriculum and recruitment of basic science faculty; and ensure sufficient land.

World hypotheses and the evolution of integrative medicine: combining categorical diagnoses and cause-effect interventions with whole systems research and nonvisualizable (seemingly "impossible") healing.

It has been proposed that to understand (1) the evolution of science and medicine, and (2) the integration of conventional, complementary and alternative medicine, it is essential to consider at least eight universal implicit meta-cognitive hypotheses. It has been suggested that these implicit "world" hypotheses can be applied in every discipline of science. The present paper reviews the eight world hypotheses and proposes an additional hypothesis, termed the nonvisualizable or "Nth" world hypothesis (adopting the mathematical concept of "N"; eg, as in N dimensional space).

Estimating pediatric primary care provider visits in a capitated environment: encounter vs. claims databases.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of insurance claims data indicating underutilization of primary care visits by children with special health care needs (CSHCN).

Design: The study was a retrospective comparison of primary care provider (PCP) utilization by 1,131 CSHCN, using secondary data from electronic claims-and-encounters databases in a Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO) and a commercial HMO.

Methodology: The study was conducted at the Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services (Children's Clinics) in Tucson, Ariz.