Despite the numerous purported benefits of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), medical practices have been extremely reluctant to embrace the technology. One of the barriers believed to be responsible for the slow adoption of EMR technology is resistance by many physicians who are not convinced of the usefulness of EMR systems. This study used a mail survey of physicians associated with a multi-s...

BACKGROUND Images are important for conveying information, but there is no empirical evidence on whether imaging figures are properly selected and presented in the published medical literature. We therefore evaluated the selection and presentation of radiological imaging figures in major medical journals. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We analyzed articles published in 2005 in 12 major genera...

Understanding how medical students select their specialty is a fundamental issue for public health and educational policy makers. One of the factors that students take into account is a specialty's prestige which hinges partly on its focus on technique rather than whole person. We examine the potential of a psychological framework, social dominance theory, to explain why some students, and not ...

OBJECTIVES To determine the perceptions of medical students in Ghana about family medicine with regard to knowledge and relevance as well as specialty preferences. DESIGN A descriptive study. METHOD The study was conducted on first clinical year students of the University of Ghana Medical School (first group of students introduced to the specialty of family medicine) in July 2008, using str...

Objectives To understand what medical students consider when choosing their specialty, prior to significant clinical exposure to develop strategies to provide adequate career counseling. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed by distributing optional questionnaires to 165 first-year medical students at the University of Ottawa in their first month of training with a sample yield of 54....

The Royal Colleges of Physicians have revised the core curriculum for SHOs in medicine and the medical specialties to make it objective based. The objectives, knowledge, skills and attitudes for 'core skills' use ward based and outpatient clinical scenarios in specialty areas. There are also important sections on 'generic skills' including communication skills, team-working skills etc., cross-s...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study investigated the relationship of role models to primary care specialty and gathered information on the attributes and functions of role models. METHODS A questionnaire on medical school experiences and attitudes was administered to primary care graduates from 24 US medical schools. RESULTS Questionnaires were completed by 1,457 physicians. Sixty-three pe...

OBJECTIVES To determine if current validated psychometric evaluations could determine a difference in basic behavioural characteristics between surgical and medical specialties. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Two district general hospitals and one University teaching hospital in England, UK. PARTICIPANTS Internal medicine (16) and trauma and orthopaedic (20) consultants. MAIN OUT...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the determinants of specialty choice among graduating medical students in Spain, a country that entered into a severe, ongoing economic crisis in 2008. SETTING Since 2008, the percentage of Spanish medical school graduates electing Family and Community Medicine (FCM) has experienced a reversal after more than a decade of decline. DESIGN A nationwide cross-sectional ...