What's your best time? Chronometry in the learning of medical procedures.

Objectives: Most medical procedures have a time element. It is uncommon, however, to explicitly use chronometry, the measurement of time, in the learning of these procedures. This study considered whether instructional designs that include chronometry could improve deliberate practice and be used in meaningful formative assessments.

Can a web-based curriculum improve students' knowledge of, and attitudes about, the interpreted medical interview?

Objectives: To develop and evaluate a web-based curriculum to introduce first year medical students to the knowledge and attitudes necessary for working with limited English proficient (LEP) patients through interpreters.

Method: Six hundred and forty first year medical students over 4 consecutive years took this curriculum as part of their Patient Physician and Society course. They viewed 6 patient-physician-interpreter video vignettes, gave open text analyses of each vignette, and compared their responses to those generated by experts, thereby receiving immediate formative feedback.

Enhancing physicians' use of Alcoholics Anonymous: Internet-based training.

Introduction: Alcoholics Anonymous is not yet fully employed by the medical community as a means to enhance patient outcome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate visitors' use of an Internet course on Alcoholics Anonymous, and to compare how various disciplines learned about, gained access to and participated in the course.

Methods: Demographic information was collected from 414 visitors to the course.