BRIEF REPORT: Multiprogram Evaluation of Reading Habits of Primary Care Internal Medicine Residents on Ambulatory Rotations

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reading habits and educational resources of primary care internal medicine residents for their ambulatory medicine education. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, multiprogram survey of primary care internal medicine residents. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Second- and third-year residents on ambulatory care rotations at 9 primary care medicine programs (124 eligible residents; 71% response rate). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Participants were asked open-ended and 5-point Likert-scaled questions about reading habits: time spent reading, preferred resources, and motivating and inhibiting factors. Participants reported reading medical topics for a mean of 4.3 ± 3.0 SD hours weekly. Online-only sources were the most frequently utilized medical resource (mean Likert response 4.16 ± 0.87). Respondents most commonly cited specific patients' cases (4.38 ± 0.65) and preparation for talks (4.08 ± 0.89) as motivating factors, and family responsibilities (3.99 ± 0.65) and lack of motivation (3.93 ± 0.81) as inhibiting factors. CONCLUSIONS: To stimulate residents' reading, residency programs should encourage patient- and case-based learning; require teaching assignments; and provide easy access to online curricula

State Mental Health Policy: Effect on Outcomes for Identifies Priority Populations

This study uses service and policy information derived from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute\u27sState Mental Health Authority Profiling System and from data on 1990 mental health services collected through theInventory of Mental Health Organizations. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of policies identifying children with severe emotional disturbance (SED) and elderly mentally ill as priority populations with actual utilization. Two outcome variables were used: (1) the proportion of children with SED or elderly clients in the total service population (service utilization), and (2) the proportion of treated individuals with mental illness in the state population (relative access). Initial analyses suggest a need for improving the systematic reporting of identified priority populations and provide planning implications for state and federal officials