Correlates of honor ratings in a clinical clerkship employing a faculty forum evaluation system

5he purpose of this study was to determine whether or not suspected variables affected a surgery clerk's chances of being awarded an honor rating. Findings indicated a significant relationship between a student receiving an honor rating and his or her preceptor's predetermined level of student advocacy, the number of completed patient interview and physical examination write-ups, and final examination scores. There was no significant relationship found between honor ratings and the preceptor's status, the sequence in which the student was discussed or the length of time spent discussing the student at the final evaluation meeting, or the number of clinical faculty present at the meeting. These results lend support to the faculty forum evaluation approach, but suggest a need for further scrutiny of some influencing variables to ensure all students are fairly considered and honor ratings judiciously awarded.     

A comparison of objective and subjective measures of clinical competence

The purpose of this study was to determine if objective performance measures from a simulated patient practical examination were related to faculty subjective assessments of surgery students' performance. Another purpose was to determine if those students performing well on a simulated patient practical examination were the same students awarded honor ratings by faculty. Faculty ratings of students (n = 72) on history taking ability, physical exam skills, problem identification, use of investigations, problem integration, patient management, and patient relations skills were correlated with objective measures on these same criteria achieved on a practical exam employing three simulated patient cases. Correlations were also calculated to study the relationship between practical exam scores and honor rating recipients. Results indicated significant relationships between faculty subjective ratings and practical exam outcomes on all practical examination skills except physical exam skills and patient management skills. Findings also indicated the performance of honor students on the practical examination was significantly better than non-honor students on two skills: history-taking and patient relations. The implications of these research findings are discussed.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reivewed in this article:
The New Conservatism: Cultural Criticism and the Historians' Debate , by Jurgen Habermas. Ed. and trans. by Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1990, 200 pages, $19.95, hardback.
Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order , by Cynthia B. Fuchs Epstein. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988, 300 pages, $25.00, hardback.
Medical Work in America: Essays on Health Care , by Eliot Freidson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989, 274 pages, $30.00, cloth, $15.95, paper.
Philosophy of Science and Its Discontents , by Steve Fuller. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, 188 pages, $32.95, hardcover.
Friendship: Developing a Sociological Perspective , by Graham Allan. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, 174 pages, $16.95, hardback.
The Urban Web: Politics, Policy, and Theory , by Lawrence J.R. Herson and John M. Bolland. Chicago, IL: Nelson Hall Publishers, 1990, 512 pages, $22.95, paper, $29.95, hardback.
The Real Disaster is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict , by J. Stephen Kroll-Smith and Stephen Robert Couch. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1990, 200 pages, $24.00, hardback.
The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America , by G. William Domhoff. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990, 315 pages, $47.95, hardback, $19.95, paper.
Locality and Inequality: Farm and Industry Structure and Socioeconomic Conditions , by Linda M. Lobao. Albany, NY: The State University of New York Press, 1990, 291 pages, $49.50, hardback, $14.95, paper.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines , by H. M. Collins. Cambrige, MA and London, England: MIT Press, 1990, 266 + XIII pages, $19.95, hardback.
Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems , edited by Joel Best. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1989, 258 pages, $34.95, hardback, $16.95, paper.
An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution , by Ira L. Reiss with Harriet M. Reiss. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1990, 287 pages, $21.95, hardback.
Structures of Power and Constraint: Papers in Honor of Peter M. Blau , edited by Craig Calhoun, Marshall W. Meyer, and W. Richard Scott. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 495 pages, $65.00, hardback.
Social Entropy Theory , by Kenneth D. Bailey. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990, 310 pages, $54.50, cloth, $17.95, paper.
Sociological Theories in Progress: New Formulations , by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch and Bo Anderson (eds.). Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1989, 416 pages, $42.00.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
In Other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology , by Pierre Bourdieu, translated by Matthew Adamson. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990, 223 pages, $32.50, hardback, $10.95, paperback.
Crisis and Change: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology , by Peter Knapp and Alan J. Spector. Chicago: Nelson Hall Publishers, 1991, 421 pages.
Beyond Glasnost: The Post-Totalitarian Mind , by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989, 248 pages, $24.95, hardback.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life , by Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton. New York: Harper & Row, 1985, 355 pages, $8.95 softcover.
The Good Society , by Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991, 347 pages, $25.00 hardcover.
Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves , by Robert Wuthnow, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, $25.00 hardcover
The Consequences of Modernity , by Anthony Giddens. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990, 186 pages, $9.95 softcover, $29.50 hardcover.
A Future for the American Economy: The Social Market , by Severyn T. Bruyn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991, 362 pages, $60.00 hardback.
Work in the Fast Lane: Flexibility, Division of Labor, and Inequality in High-Tech Industries , by Glenna Colclough and Charles M. Tolbert II. Ithaca, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992, 157 pages, $16.95, paper.
Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty and the Underclass , by Christopher Jencks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992,280 pages, $27.95 hardback.
They Call Her Pastor: A New Role for Catholic Women , by Ruth A. Wallace. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, 204 pages, $44.50 (est.) hardback, $14.95 (est.) paper.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Ethnomethodology and the Human Sciences. Graham Button (ed.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Text in Context: Contributions to Ethnomethodology. Graham Watson and Robert M. Seiler (eds.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992. Shooting Dope: Career Patterns of Hard-Core Heroin Users, by Charles E. Faupel. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1991, 220 pages, $27.95, hardcover. Capitalist Development and Democracy, by Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens, and John D. Stephens. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, 387 pages, $45.00, hardback, $19.95, paper. What Does the Lord Require? How American Christians Think about Economic Justice, by Stephen Hart. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992, 251 pages, $24.95, hardback. Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory, by Philomena Essed. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991, 322 pages, $44.00, cloth. The Search for Rational Drug Control, by Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 219 pages, $24.95, hardback. Micropolitics of Knowledge: Communication and Indirect Control in Workgroups, by Emmanuel Lazega. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1992, 149 pages, $37.95, hardback, $16.95, paperback. Studying Collective Action, Sage Modern Politics Series Volume 30, sponsored by the European Consortium for Political Research/ECPR, edited by Mario Diani and Ron Eyerman. London: Sage, 1992, 263 pages, $60.00, hardback.     

Detecting suicide risk in adolescents and adults in an emergency department: a pilot study

The investigators conducted a pilot study to detect suicide risk in adolescents and adults seeking treatment in an emergency department, as well as to test the reliability and validity of the 4-item Risk of Suicide Questionnaire (RSQ). This study expanded the implementation of the RSQ beyond its initial use with children and adolescents with psychiatric symptoms who were seeking treatment in a pediatric emergency department to include adolescent and adult patients in a Level I trauma center. An advanced practice psychiatric nurse verbally administered the RSQ to a convenience sample of 104 emergency department patients ages 12 to 82. Psychometric analysis demonstrated an adequate degree of reliability and criterion-related validity for the RSQ. Approximately 30% of all patients who participated screened positive for suicide risk. The results support the continued use of the 4-item RSQ with all adolescents and use of a reduced 2-item form of the RSQ with adults exhibiting psychiatric chief complaints to determine imminent risk of suicide in patients who seek treatment in the emergency department. Nurses in all health care settings need to initiate suicide screening and implement nursing interventions directed toward suicide prevention.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action , by Jörgen Habermas. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991, 228 pages, $19.95, hardback.
Models and Interpretations: Selected Essays , by J. A. Barnes. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 273 pages, $47.50, hardback.
Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community , Elijah Anderson. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago, 1990, 276 pages, $19.95, cloth.
Status Inequality: The Self in Culture , by George A. De Vos and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc. 1990, 311 pages, $39.95, hardback.