The first decade of the American Board of Internal Medicine certification in critical care medicine: an overview of examinees and certificate holders from 1987 through 1996.

Overview: This study reviews the first decade of critical care medicine (CCM) certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (1987-1996). Included are the characteristics of examinee and certificate-holder groups; examination performances from different underlying disciplines of internal medicine, with or without formal CCM training; and the influence of background and a training program as correlates of examination performance.

Data Sources: The CCM certification examination has been offered biennially since November 1987.

Yoga-based intervention for carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized trial.

Context: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common complication of repetitive activities and causes significant morbidity.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a yoga-based regimen for relieving symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Design: Randomized, single-blind, controlled trial.

The answer key as a source of error in performance assessment.

Objective: To determine the impact of variability in answer key construction (i.e., option weighting) on total errors of measurement and to compare several designs for reducing this effect.

Evaluation of a yoga based regimen for treatment of osteoarthritis of the hands.

Objective: Yoga and relaxation techniques have traditionally been used by nonmedical practitioners to help alleviate musculoskeletal symptoms. The objective of this study was to collect controlled observations of the effect of yoga on the hands of patients with osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Patients with OA of the hands were randomly assigned to receive either the yoga program or no therapy.