Assessing teamwork: a reliable five-question survey.

Currently available tools to measure teamwork, an essential component of primary care, are generally very resource intensive and thus cannot be administered frequently. To explore the possibility of developing a brief teamwork-assessment instrument, we first administered 29 questions about teamwork from the Practice Environment Checklist (PEC) to all members of six clinical teams in a residency outpatient practice (n=56). We found that the scale assessed a single dimension of teamwork and that a five item survey has acceptable reliability (Cronbach alpha=0.

Schizophrenia: a review.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that affects 1 percent of the population in all cultures. It affects equal numbers of men and women, but the onset is often later in women than in men. Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms.

Family medicine in Iran: the birth of a new specialty.

Since the revolution of 1978-1979, the government of Iran has worked toward development of a primary health care system to improve basic health for its citizens. Although infant mortality and other parameters have improved, increasing urbanization and poor lifestyle choices continue to present major challenges to improving overall health statistics in the country. Generalist physicians, with no training beyond medical school graduation, have not inspired confidence from patients or specialist colleagues.

Comprehensive assessment of professional competence: the Rochester experiment.

Background: A required 2-week comprehensive assessment (CA) for 2nd-year medical students that integrates basic science, clinical skills, information management, and professionalism was implemented.

Description: The CA links standardized patients (SPs) with computer-based exercises, a teamwork exercise, and peer assessments; and culminates in student-generated learning plans.

Evaluation: Scores assigned by SPs showed acceptable interrater reliability.