We describe the elective including curriculum development, course evaluation results, and steps for implementing a successful oral health elective into medical education. We highlight interprofessional collaboration and constituency building among medical and dental faculty and administrators.

The concepts and tools clinicians use to understand disease and treat patients are the direct product of basic and applied scientific inquiry. To prepare physicians to participate in this tradition of medical science, the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) created a research requirement in 1981. The objective was to provide students, during their clinical years of medical school, with first-hand experience in hypothesis-driven inquiry and an understanding of the philosophies and methods of science integral to the practice of medicine. A comprehensive curriculum review in 1998-2000 identified several limitations of this requirement. Although many students completed it successfully, others struggled to find mentors, funding, or time as coursework became more demanding. Other students found they had no interest in or aptitude for the research process itself. Accordingly, UWSOM has reaffirmed its commitment to independent inquiry but expanded the ways in which students can meet the requirement. Three research options are now available under the Independent Investigative Inquiry (III) program, generally completed the summer after students' first year of medical school. These are the hypothesis-driven inquiry, a critical review of the literature, or an experience-driven inquiry in community medicine. The goal of UWSOM is to shape new physicians who can manage rapidly changing medical science, information technology, and patient expectations in clinical practice and/or laboratories. The role of III is to teach students to develop personal methods of acquiring new knowledge and integrate it into their professional lives. Faculty support, program oversight, and funding have been increased.

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Our study suggests ways to improve the development of Web cases. These methods contribute to future research in testing cases for educational effectiveness.

BackgroundGroup visits are a popular new type of patient-physician encounter. The goal of the group visit is to create an environment where patients with a shared chronic condition work together with a physician and other health care providers to manage their disease. This collaborative care model has been shown to decrease participants' utilization of the emergency room and increase the likelihood that patients receive recommended services for their chronic condition. To date, no studies of group visits have been done with low-income, community health center populations. Also, these studies have not examined the population of patients who are not interested in attending group visits. The Bothell Kenmore Community Health Center has proposed the use of group visits for their diabetic population.Study Design and MethodsA phone survey was created to determine whether there was a significant level of interest for this type of resource and what factors might determine an individual's decision to participate in group visits. The clinic hypothesized that a number of variables might influence patients' decisions to attend group visits. These variables include financial resources, older age, transportation resources, patients' perceived efficacy of their diabetes self-care, health status, and patients' perceived control over their health. The SF-12 and the locus of control were used to capture the last two variables. Fifty-two patients participated in the survey. Sixty-four percent of the patients were interested in participating, while 15% said they were unsure and 21% said they were not interested. For the above-mentioned variables, the only variable that had a significant impact on participation was financial. Fifty-five percent of those interested in group visits stated that finances would affect their decision and 0% of those not interested in group visits statied that it would affect their decision.ConclusionThe survey showed that the group visit model attracts individuals from a broad range of emotional and physical health statuses.