Verbal Aggressiveness Among Physicians and Trainees.

Objective: To better understand verbal aggressiveness among physicians and trainees, including specialty-specific differences.

Design And Participants: The Infante Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (IVAS) was administered as part of a survey to 48 medical students, 24 residents, and 257 attending physicians. The 72 trainees received the IVAS and demographic questions, whereas the attending physicians received additional questions regarding type of practice, career satisfaction, litigation, and personality type.

Protocol Standards for Reporting Video Data in Academic Journals.

Editors of biomedical journals have estimated that a majority (40%-90%) of studies published in scientific journals cannot be replicated, even though an inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build on published claims. Each journal sets its own protocols for establishing "quality" in articles, yet over the past 50 years, few journals in any field--especially medical education--have specified protocols for reporting the use of video data in research. The authors found that technical and industry-driven aspects of video recording, as well as a lack of standardization and reporting requirements by research journals, have led to major limitations in the ability to assess or reproduce video data used in research.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own: the impact of a professionalism curriculum on the attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of an academic plastic surgery practice.

Introduction: Professionalism is now recognized as a core competency for graduate medical education and maintenance of certification. However, few models exist in plastic surgery that define, teach, and assess professionalism as a competency. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a professionalism curriculum in an academic plastic surgery practice.

Get on your boots: preparing fourth-year medical students for a career in surgery, using a focused curriculum to teach the competency of professionalism.

Introduction: Few educational programs exist for medical students that address professionalism in surgery, even though this core competency is required for graduate medical education and maintenance of board certification. Lapses in professional behavior occur commonly in surgical disciplines, with a negative effect on the operative team and patient care. Therefore, education regarding professionalism should begin early in the surgeon's formative process, to improve behavior.

The certifying examination of the american board of surgery: the effect of improving communication and professional competency: twenty-year results.

Purpose: In 1985, a small research group identified variables affecting applicant success on the oral Certifying Examination (CE) of the American Board of Surgery (ABS). This led to the design of an oral examination course first taught in 1991. The success of and need for this program led to its continuation.

Have predictors of obstetrics and gynecology career choice among contemporary US medical graduates changed over time?

Objective: We sought to identify predictors of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) specialty choice among US medical graduates over time.

Study Design: We examined OBGYN specialty choice for its association with 16 items on the 1997, 2000, and 2004 AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ). Multivariate logistic regression identified independent predictors of OBGYN specialty choice for each year.

Is it live or is it Memorex? Student oral examinations and the use of video for additional scoring.

Background: Oral examination interrater consistency has been questioned, supporting the use of at least paired examiners and consensus grading. The scheduling flexibility of video recording allows more examiners to score performances. The purpose of this study was to compare live performance with video performance scores to assess interrater differences and the effect on grading.

The remedial year in the general surgery board certification process: how effective is it?

Background: The American Board of Surgery (ABS) intends to assure high standards for knowledge and experience in every graduate from an approved general surgery program. They have gone to great lengths to devise an optimal remediation process for every candidate failing to reach these standards. But what is the effectiveness of the remediation process?

Methods: ABS data outlined the history and development of the remediation process up to its current form.

Clerkship enhancement of interpersonal skills.

Background: The purpose of this research was to determine if students improve interpersonal skills as the third year progresses despite the lack of any specific curriculum or teaching methods.

Methods: Third-year students completed 1 of 3 16-week sequential clerkship blocks. Each student completed a clinical performance examination before and after clerkship consisting of a videotaped standardized patient interview and physical examination.

Factors affecting the professional image of physicians.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to use an experimental design to determine the effect of selected aspects of dress on the professional image of physicians in an adult outpatient setting by those who use the health care services the most (55+), the least (18 to 22), and other physicians on whom we depend for referrals.

Methods: Ten slides of physicians representing a variety of ages; ethnic and religious affiliations were shown to 3 populations across the United States and Canada. Set 1 (N = 216) was shown to undergraduates and rated on 10 attributes of professional image.