[Retention of knowledge. I--Dermatology and psychiatry programs].

The authors present the results of an education investigation of knowledge retention. The programs of Dermatology and Psychiatry were studied, comparing the marks obtained in the fourth and fifth years. The examinations had the same content but were not identical and the fifth year's examination was applied in the first day of the training program. The losses of knowledge observed (average +/- standard error) were 20.0 +/- 2% for Dermatology and 27.0 +/- 3% for Psychiatry. These losses were not influenced by the time between the two examinations, by student's sex or race (oriental or not), or by the fact that the student had studied the contents of the disciplines out of the University program (hidden curriculum).