[Evaluation of the new admission procedures for medical education at the Karolinska Institute: selection based on tests and interviews is best]. / Utvärdering av Karolinska institutets nya antagningsformer till läkarutbildningen: PIL-arna klarade sig bäst.

To develop an admission procedure permitting selection of highly motivated medical students with personality characteristics appropriate for a future as practising physicians, from 1992 and onwards the Karolinska Institute based admission on a written test and two interviews (PIL group, n = 135), on upper secondary school grade point average (on a 5-point scale; GPA group, n = 161), on Scholastic Aptitude Test results (SAT group, n = 80), or other criteria (mainly foreign grades), the groups being compared at evaluation of the procedures in 1996. The PIL group scored highest in all respects, including clinical suitability, motivation, relations with classmates, and realistic expectations as to their future work as physicians, and none of them left medical school. Academic results were similar in the GPA group, though the two groups differed in secondary school GPAs (PIL group 4.0, GPA group 4.8(5.0). The evaluation suggested that admission via written test and interviews is a good alternative to conventional admission based on GPA or SAT.

Pedagogical methods and affect tolerance in medical students.

OBJECTIVES: There has been little evaluation, by means other than cognitive variables, of medical school curricula that include problem-based learning (PBL). This study aimed to investigate whether medical students' affect tolerance, an important prerequisite of empathy, was influenced by individual courses. DESIGN: The study is pseudo-randomised and cross-sectional, using a test of affect tolerance in students in their first, sixth and eighth term of medical school, during which they were kept together as one group for their pre-clinical studies, but were subsequently separated during the clinical part and were sent to two different university hospitals that used different teaching methods. SUBJECTS: Medical students. SETTING: University of Lund Medical School, Sweden. RESULTS: After receiving a short course in communications skills training, students in the sixth term had significantly higher mean scores on the test than students in their first term. In the eighth term, which is the surgery term, the mean scores for students attending the PBL course were still as high as those for students in the sixth term, while students in the course using conventional pedagogical methods had significantly lower mean scores. DISCUSSION: Since the content of the courses was similar and the composition of the two groups also fairly similar, we attribute the difference to the differing teaching methods. In the PBL course, the students were given continued and integrated communication skills instruction, in which it was possible for them to learn strategies to counteract the development of rigid psychic defences, which constitute an obstacle to affect tolerance and empathy.

Self-reported occupational dermatological reactions among Danish dentists.

The aims of the study were to investigate the causes and prevalences of occupational dermatological reactions among Danish dentists. Questionnaires and telephone interviews with Danish dentists revealed that 37.8% reported skin reactions. In 27.2% of the cases the reactions were related to occupation, occurring with a point prevalence of 9.6%, and with a 1-yr period prevalence of 21.4%. The main causes were hand washing/soaps, latex gloves and (di)methacrylate-containing materials occurring at point prevalences of 7.1%, 1.3% and 1.7%, respectively. In addition, several other causes were reported, each occurring at relatively low frequency. Diagnosed allergic latex eczema was reported by 0.6%, but the frequency might be more than 2%, estimated on basis of reported symptoms. Allergic eczema caused by (di)methacrylate-containing materials was diagnosed among 0.7%, but estimated by the description of symptoms to be nearly 2%. The results urge for developing safer materials for dental use.

[Preventive measurement in Gottingen kindergartens from 1975-1990]. / Praventive Massnahmen in Göttinger Kindergärten in den Jahren 1975 bis 1990.

379 children, age 3 to 6, were examined for caries prevalence in kindergartens in Göttingen. 64% of subjects had healthy natural dentitions, the df-s value was 2.3. In 1990 the mean df-s value for 4-5 year old children was 10% lower than 1985 and 45% lower than 1983. Oral health had improved differently in the various institutions. The mean df-s was between 0.6 and 4.7.