Implementation and evaluation of a self-directed learning activity for first-year medical students.

: It is critical that medical students develop self-directed, life-long learning skills to navigate medical school successfully and to become competent healthcare professionals. Moreover, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the USA medical school accrediting body, requires activities designed to help students develop self-directed learning (SDL) skills in the preclinical years.: We evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a self-directed learning activity in a 6-week first-year medical student course.

Anticonvulsant hypersensitivity: an unfortunate case of triple exposure to phenytoin.

Anticonvulsant hypersensitivity manifests 2 to 12 weeks after patients start taking phenytoin, phenobarbital, or carbemazepine. The syndrome begins with fever followed by a rash that can progress to erythema multiforme, toxic epidermal necrolysis, and multi-organ system involvement. Other common manifestations include lymphadenopathy, facial edema, eosinophilia, and elevated transaminase levels.