Hoarding and Animal Hoarding: Psychodynamic and Transitional Aspects.

Hoarding is a disorder that has only recently begun to be understood by researchers and clinicians. This disorder has been examined from a biopsychosocial perspective and has features that overlap with obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as some unique characteristics. Hoarding disorder is widespread and maybe related to the evolution of collecting and storing resources among humans and other animals.

Evaluation of a national Bright Futures oral health curriculum for pediatric residents.

Objective: Training in Bright Futures and oral health concepts is critical for delivery of high-quality primary care and preventive health services by residents, our future pediatric workforce. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an online health promotion curriculum on pediatric residents' confidence, knowledge, and clinical performance in Bright Futures and oral health practice.

Methods: Residents from sites that had been stratified by size and randomized were assigned to the Bright Futures Oral Health curriculum (intervention group) or an active control group.

Pediatric residents' perceptions of communication competencies: Implications for teaching.

Background: Medical regulatory organizations worldwide require competency in communication skills. Pediatric communication competencies are unique, and little is known about pediatric residents' perceptions regarding these skills.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine pediatric residents' attitudes about communication skills, their perceptions of the importance of learning 15 specific communication skills relevant to pediatrics, confidence in these skills, and relevant program supports.

The relationship between second-year medical students' OSCE scores and USMLE Step 2 scores.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: A valid tool to measure clinical competency early in medical school could identify students who may require special educational attention. The overall aim is to assess the relationship between students' scores on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) given in the second year of medical school and their subsequent performance on Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE Step 2).

Methods: Participants were 390 second-year medical students participating in a required OSCE; complete data (Medical College Admission Test, OSCE, USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 scores) were available for 340 students (87%).

Developing and evaluating a residents' curriculum.

This study examines the impact of a Bright Futures-based curriculum designed to teach pediatric residents how to integrate health education principles into everyday clinical practice. A two-phase study was conducted to evaluate the curriculum using both quantitative and qualitative methods. To measure the curriculum's impact on residents' clinical performance, a pre- and post-objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) design was administered to 14 residents in two groups: a control group (n=8) and an intervention group (n=6).

Development of validated instrument to measure medical student learning in clinical urology: a step toward evidence based education.

Purpose: To date published efforts to assess and improve medical student learning in urology have been limited due to the lack of an assessment tool with which to measure student learning. We report the development of a validated measure of medical student learning in urology.

Materials And Methods: Four core topics in clinical urology were selected as the focus of the test development, namely prostate cancer, screening with prostate specific antigen, benign prostatic hyperplasia and erectile dysfunction.

Development and initial evaluation of a novel urology curriculum for medical students.

Purpose: After the development and implementation of a novel urology curriculum for medical students we evaluated urological learning by medical students using a validated measure of learning in the 4 clinical areas of benign prostatic hyperplasia, erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer and prostate specific antigen screening.

Materials And Methods: Third year medical students completed an online validated pre-test and post-test immediately before and after the mandatory 1-week clinical rotation in urology. Online pre-surveys and post-surveys were also administered.

Psychometric structure of a comprehensive objective structured clinical examination: a factor analytic approach.

Problem Statement And Background: While the psychometric properties of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) have been studied, their latent structures have not been well characterized. This study examines a factor analytic model of a comprehensive OSCE and addresses implications for measurement of clinical performance.

Methods: An exploratory maximum likelihood factor analysis with a Promax rotation was used to derive latent structures for the OSCE.

The relationship between second-year medical students' OSCE scores and USMLE Step 1 scores.

The relationship between objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and standardized tests is not well known. We linked second-year medical students' physical diagnosis OSCE scores from 1998, 1999 and 2000 (n = 355) with demographic information, Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores, and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 scores. The correlation coefficient for the total OSCE score with USMLE Step 1 score was 0.

Tutor versus computer: a prospective comparison of interactive tutorial and computer-assisted instruction in radiology education.

Rationale And Objectives: This study compared the educational effectiveness of an interactive tutorial with that of interactive computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and determined the effects of personal preference, learning style, and level of training.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-four medical students and four radiology residents were prospectively, randomly assigned to receive instruction from different sections of an interactive tutorial and an interactive CAI module. Participants took tests of factual knowledge at the beginning and end of the instruction and a test of visual diagnosis at the end.

How well do second-year students learn physical diagnosis? Observational study of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Background: Little is known about using the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in physical diagnosis courses. The purpose of this study was to describe student performance on an OSCE in a physical diagnosis course.

Methods: Cross-sectional study at Harvard Medical School, 1997-1999, for 489 second-year students.