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The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge scale (ADKS) in a population of Greek general practitioners (GPs). The international standards for the forward and back translation approach were followed. For the validation step, 112 GPs, treating dementia in their daily practices, were enrolled from Crete. The questionnaire was assessed for the following psychometric properties: intraclass reliability, test-retest reliability, and construct and face validity. Internal consistency of the Greek ADKS was satisfactory (α = .65). A high repeatability of the instrument was found during the retest with 27 GPs (intraclass correlation coefficient = 1.0). Factor analysis showed that all the items from the original instrument can be used in the Greek version. The inter-item correlation revealed a high cross-correlation between the items of the questionnaire (α > .6). The data confirmed the validity of the Greek version of the ADKS for measuring GPs' knowledge on the diagnosis and management of dementia.

This article reports on a study undertaken to validate an assessment tool of medical students' ability to integrate clinical skills and scientific knowledge within the patient encounter. One hundred forty first-year medical students at the State University of New York at Buffalo examined a standardized patient with either acute lower back pain or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Forty-eight clinical exams were evaluated by two raters to test the interrater reliability of the instrument. Results were promising but mixed. The tool displayed high internal consistency. However, results from a generalizability study indicated that a significant amount of variance in student scores was due to faculty raters. It is recommended that future studies undertake a training workshop for raters and examine different cases in an effort to expand the flexibility of the instrument.

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This pilot project describes the process and demonstrates the possibility of implementing a complex standardized patient case to assess students' management of complicated primary care patients with medical, psychological, and social issues.