Objective comparison of manual dexterity in physicians and surgeons.

Recent interest in the assessment of manual dexterity of surgical residency applicants prompted an investigation of psychomotor skills in surgeons and physicians. The Purdue Pegboard and Minnesota Manual Dexterity tests were given to 57 subjects. Analysis of the data revealed no significant difference in dexterity between medical and surgical residents, suggesting that medical students do not select specialty training programs because of the presence or absence of manual skills.

Parent-child activity group treatment in preventive psychiatry.

This article describes the role that occupational therapy played in a community outreach program instituted collabora- tively by a major teaching hospital and a local day care center. The program focused on preschool children at risk for developing psychiatric disorders. A parent-child activity group was introduced and developed by an occupational therapist who was a member of the hospital staff.

Evaluation of smoking prohibition policy in a health maintenance organization.

Four months after Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound adopted a policy prohibiting smoking in its 35 facilities, we assessed attitudes and behavior of a sample of 447 employees. Results indicated that 85 per cent of employees approved of the decision to go smoke-free, the rate of reported smoking decreased, and a large proportion of non-smokers believed that their own and co-workers' work performance had improved. Suggestions for successful implementation of future programs are provided.