Evaluation of training medical students in patient-interviewing skills by three modes of learning.

Teaching interpersonal and communication skills to practice history taking is a part of a course on Foundation to Clinical Approach provided for third year medical students. They were trained in three modes: performing with SP, with peers and with groups. This study was conducted to assess the effect of training by three methods. Analysis of the assessment forms by tutors and students indicated that all behaviour and all methods were significantly different at 0.001 and 0.003 and the highest score was found performing with SP. The behaviours which they performed were different among sections and the best performance was patient interview related to history taking and chief complaints. The students should improve their skills in beginning and ending the interview, asking open questions, clarifying the patient's understanding, increasing awareness of perceptions on patients especially the psychosocial aspects and feelings of patients. From the questionnaire, the tutors and students thought that this program was useful and every student should have a chance to practice with the extended time for a second performance after feedback or more than one rehearsal.

The achievement and satisfaction of clinical subjects in old and new curricula of Ramathibodi.

The purpose of this research was to compare the achievement and satisfaction of four major subject learnings in the old and new curricula. Data collected were achievement scores and survey forms. The subjects studied were 158 medical students in the old and new curricula and response rate of the survey was 54.43 per cent in the population group. There were no significant differences in academic achievement of students in the old and new curricula. The learning experiences provided by the Department of Pediatrics satisfied most of the students in the new curriculum. Also teacher and evaluation are dominant factors which affect students' learning.

The achievement and attitudes of medical students toward the profession.

In this article, the author studied the achievement and attitudes of medical students. The sampling studied were divided into two groups according to selection methods: JHEE and RADP. The results showed that there was significant difference at the level of 0.01 between the two groups regarding achievements. The analysis revealed that the first group achieved more than the second group. The second group used more time for study especially first and second years than required by the curriculum. It is, however, attitudes toward the profession of the first group was more positive than the second group (p less than 0.05).

Evaluation of training program for volunteer family planning communicators.

The objectives of the VFPCs training program are to develop the strategy for promotion of sterilization by contraceptive comsumers in the provinces. The program promoted coordination among government and the private sector. The project was planned to cover 12 provinces in Northeastern Thailand. The results indicated that the project had achieved readiness to some degree. Consequently, the significant differences between pre and post tests (p less than 0.01) indicated that the VFPCs had benefited by the training program. For the most part, the objectives of training were achieved.