University Feinberg School Research Articles

How perceived risk and personal and clinical experience affect medical students' decisions to seek treatment for major depression.

To examine the role of perceived risk, and personal and clinical experience in medical students' treatment seeking behavior for major depression. In 2003, a questionnaire was administered to 173 first-year and 164 fourth-year medical students at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine to assess students' perception of risk for major depression in the general population and personal and clinical experience with major depression. Treatment-seeking behavior was examined using a hypothetical scenario. Data analysis used analysis of variance and regression models. A total of 157 (91%) first-year and 108 (66%) fourth-year students completed the questionnaire. The majority overestimated the risk for major depression in the general population (p <.001), although respondents were more accurate for risk in the medical student population. The significant predictors for willingness to diagnose depression in the scenario were: risk perception (beta =.176, p <.01), clinical experience (beta =.173, p <.01) and personal treatment for major depression (beta =.188, p <.01). Significant predictors for willingness to refer to a professional were personal treatment (beta =.136, p <.05) and having a close friend treated for major depression (beta =.176, p <.01). Students' hesitation to seek treatment may be explained by the overestimation of risk, which has been shown to cause increased anxiety and avoidance of health seeking behavior. Interestingly, personal experience was found to be a significant predictor of treatment seeking behavior. This information can be used in preparing health risk communication messages for medical students.

Assessing Reference Staff Competency in the Electronic Environment

This paper shows how the Galter Health Sciences Library of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine developed and implemented a program to assess reference staff competencies for assisting users in the electronic environment after completing a new training program. The first phase was a year-long assessment of reference questions to identify the types of questions received at the desk. Next, a training program for reference was developed and implemented with an emphasis on answering the most common questions identified such as remote access, access privileges, holdings information, and database searching. The program included individualized instruction on library policies, electronic resources, access restrictions, and troubleshooting. The next phase was to create instruments to test staff competencies in answering questions after training. Based on the scores, additional training was individualized and provided to the appropriate staff member to enhance their skills where needed. The training system that was developed has proven to be effective as most staff scored better than 92% on initial testing. As a result, library management can be certain that users' questions are being answered correctly and that the staff has the skills required to work in an electronic environment.

Humanities Education at Northwestern University???s Feinberg School of Medicine

The Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine is responsible for humanities education in all four years of medical school: five units of the required four-year Patient, Physician, and Society course, 37 to 40 medical humanities seminars in years one and two, more than 125 ethics case conferences in third-year clerkships, and electives for fourth-year students. The program faculty also participate in ethics and humanities education in residencies, and the program offers an annual one-year fellowship. The program introduced the small-group teaching that now characterizes much of the school's curriculum, and its course units and seminars have been a resource for faculty development and curricular innovation. Drawing on literature, religion, ethics, philosophy of medicine, film, history, social and cultural anthropology, and jurisprudence, humanities education is designed to foster habits of discourse on social and moral issues in medicine. Small-group teaching and interactive learning are its central pedagogical methods. Essential to their successful use in a school that enrolls approximately 170 students each year is a large cadre of volunteer clinicians who serve as tutors and the college system, a four-part division of each class instituted by the 1993 curriculum reform. Students are evaluated on preparation, class participation, and regular writing assignments. All course units and seminars are pass/fail (as are all first- and second-year courses); tutors supply narrative comments. The courses themselves are thoroughly evaluated by students and reviewed both by the relevant faculty-student committee and at an annual curriculum retreat.