This study compared the career and domestic responsibilities of women physicians whose domestic partners were physicians (WP-Ps) with those of women physicians whose domestic partners were not physicians (WP-NPs). In 1988 the authors surveyed 602 women physicians in a large midwestern city regarding their career and domestic roles; 390 were physicians in training (students and residents), and 212 were physicians in practice (academic medicine and private practice). Overall, 382 (63%) responded; of the 382, 247 (65%) had domestic partners; of these 247, 91 (37%) were WP-Ps and 156 (63%) were WP-NPs. The WP-Ps were found to be twice as likely as the WP-NPs to interrupt their careers to accommodate their partners' careers. The WP-Ps also assumed significantly more domestic responsibilities and worked fewer hours practicing medicine than did the WP-NPs. The 163 women physicians in training (44-48%-of the WP-Ps and 119-76%-of the WP-NPs) demonstrated a more egalitarian division of labor overall, with no significant differences between the WP-Ps and the WP-NPs. The authors recommend that longitudinal studies be undertaken to determine whether women physicians in training continue this trend as they enter the practice of medicine.
Recognition of the seriousness of transfusion-transmitted diseases has been demonstrated by U.S. medical schools through the integration of transfusion medicine (TM) content into their curricula. To evaluate the degree to which these changes in curricula have been reflected in the National Board of Medical Examiners' (NBME) examinations, a study conducted in 1991 evaluated the proportions of TM-related items on Parts I and II of the NBME examinations for 1984-1985 versus 1989-1990. Both Part I (basic sciences) and Part II (clinical sciences) demonstrated significant gains in TM items between the comparison periods (p less than .001), with Part II having the higher gain. An analysis of students' knowledge revealed that students in 1989-1990 tended to perform better on TM items than on examination items generally. The increases in TM content and student performance on TM items on the 1989-1990 examinations suggest that the national effort to expand and improve teaching of TM in U.S. medical schools has been effective.
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