Measuring student motivation in health professions' colleges.

Active, independent, self-directed learning requires motivation, or a willingness to exert high levels of effort toward educational goals, conditioned by individual need. Motivation may be a function of individual differences or induced by situational constraints. Archer (1994), who used goal orientation to conceptualize university student motivation, theorized that students would exhibit a preference for either mastery orientation (desire to develop competence/increase understanding), performance orientation (desire to demonstrate competence/ability), or academic alienation (no concern for developing competence or demonstrating achievement). The purpose of this study was to identify and validate an instrument that would measure goal orientation preferences of students in health professions programs. The authors administered Archer's survey to a sample of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students to determine if the instrument was appropriate for this population. Results demonstrated that goal orientation preference could be measured in these students and confirmed the instrument's reliability and valid use for these populations.

Community pharmacy data bases to identify patients at high risk for hypercholesterolemia.

We compared the effectiveness of selectively screening pharmacy data bases to identify patients with hypercholesterolemia with that of mass cholesterol screening. Screening data bases of four community pharmacies yielded 426 patients filling prescriptions for beta-blockers, thiazide diuretics, oral hypoglycemics, insulin, sublingual nitroglycerin, nicotine gum, or nicotine patches. They were invited to attend a cholesterol screening. Eighty-eight of the contacted patients attended, as did 97 walk-in persons. Cholesterol readings were higher in the contacted group (p = 0.017). Borderline-high cholesterol levels (200-239 mg/dl) were reported in 36.3% of the contacted group and 29.8% of the walk-in group. High cholesterol levels (> 239 mg/dl) were reported in 31.8% and 18.6%, respectively. Targeting certain drugs that directly contribute to raising cholesterol or indicate other risk factors for coronary artery disease (e.g., diabetes mellitus) was an effective method of identifying patients with hypercholesterolemia.