[Morbidity and mortality in patients presenting with acute abdominal pain]. / Morbilidad y mortalidad en pacientes que presentan dolor abdominal agudo.

We reviewed the files of all patients who entered the hospital because of acute abdominal pain within a period of one year in order to study the frequency of this symptom and its lethal effects. The total cases found (562) were divided into two groups: patients under 50 years of age (279) and patients older than that age (283). The most frequent causes in the first group were reno-urethral lithiasis, acute appendicitis and acute pancreatitis. While in the second group were abdominal wall hernias, peptic acid disease and mesenteric thrombosis. No differences where found between the sexes of patients. Hospital mortality was 13.9% and that related to surgery 20.9%. The most frequent cause of death among patients under 50 years of age was acute pancreatitis and in those older than 50 years of age it was peptic acid disease.

[Student evaluation of the professor's performance and its effects on teaching effectiveness]. / Evaluación estudiantil de la actuación del profesor y su efecto sobre la efectividad docente.

A prospective study of educational research was carried out. Its type was observational, comparative and longitudinal being its main objective to determine whether the student evaluation of the teachers' performance and the immediate feedback that the students gave to the teachers are useful to improve teaching effectiveness. An instrument of evaluation was outlined with the students give a certain grade on the teaching performance of eleven physicians who participated as teachers in three or four courses for training of medical teachers. Each teacher's grades were compared with the ones they got in preceding courses, and a significant statistical difference was observed in almost all the cases (p less than 0.001) which was interpreted as an improvement in performance after receiving the immediate feedback at the end of the previous course. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.86) between different tests applied to the students and the grades that the students give to the teachers. The instrument of evaluation turned out to be reliable and reasonably valid. In conclusion, the evaluation that the students make of the teaching performance and the immediate feedback that the teacher receives are of great help to improve teaching effectiveness.