A novel approach to training pediatrics primary care residents.

From 1984 through 1987, 12 pediatrics residents from the Yale University School of Medicine took part in a three-year program that emphasized four areas in primary care: well-child care, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, chronic illness, and adolescent medicine. Program evaluation included a videotaped interview, an assessment of the residents' skill in the management of patients' behavioral problems, and multiple-choice examinations. The program residents improved their interviewing skills more than did the comparison residents, particularly in the process and psychosocial content areas, and also did better in the management of patients' behavioral problems. There was no difference in factual knowledge of behavioral and developmental pediatrics and adolescent medicine. While traditional residency training in primary care may provide the resident with comparable cognitive knowledge, such training may not always improve the resident's ability to apply the knowledge in the primary care setting.

Evaluation of a continuing education program in sex therapy.

This paper describes a multi-dimensional, ongoing approach to evaluation in a sex therapy training program. The Yale Sex Therapy Training program agencies throughout Connecticut who would meet or surpass pre-determined standards for sex therapists. Because sex therapy is a new discipline, it was deemed essential that program evaluation be developed and carried out from the very beginnings of the program and throughout its course. Evaluative findings proved essential to monitoring the quality of teaching and supervisory efforts, in assessing change in knowledge and professional activity of trainees, and in measuring impact upon the communities served. Continuous feedback led to changes in program content and format through identification of needs and problems. The experience in the Yale program confirms the recommendations of others regarding the conduct of a continuing education program. These findings strongly imply that multi-dimensional, ongoing evaluation should be an integral component in any continuing education program.