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Biomedical subjects

D O Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to D O Anderson.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1967

Medical education. II. Medicine or science--a study of career decisions.

A study of the career decisions of all students in a single matriculation cohort was undertaken in 1965 at the University of British Columbia. Studied were 64 premedical students, 112 ex-premedical students and 87 science students who had completed at least their second year. It was found by means of a questionnaire that medicine remained the career of high prestige for the three groups of students. In general the values and needs of the ex-premedical student were more similar to those of the science student than the premedical student. The loyalists to medicine were found to be more committed, self-assured, and orientated towards people and service. In addition, the premedical student was more concerned about his academic achievement but was also more confident of his progress. He emerged at the end of his training as the committed student who had chosen medicine at an early age and had remained loyal to his chosen career goal.

Adult↗
PubMed1967

Some observations on attrition of students from canadian medical schools.

Students who entered their freshman year for the first time in 1958 and in 1959, from all medical schools in Canada, and those entering the four Western schools in 1960 were studied from the time they matriculated until they either graduated or withdrew from medical school. The rate of attrition is about 15% of matriculants each year, with the lowest rate at the University of Western Ontario (1.7%) and the highest at the University of Ottawa (33.6%) over the time period studied. Attrition was classified as academic and non-academic. Significantly higher rates were found in the case of non-academic attrition for women and in the case of academic attrition for Commonwealth students. Significantly higher rates for both types of attrition were found for older students and students who had attended undergraduate colleges different from their medical school colleges. It would appear from available statistics that the factors which combine to produce attrition are the intellectual and personality characteristics of the student, school promotional policies and evaluation methods.

Adult↗
PubMed1967

The selection of medical students in Western Canada.

The methods employed in the selection of medical students for the 1964-65 class of freshmen at the four Western medical schools are described and recommendations are made for improving the procedure. The structure and functions of the various selection committees varied from school to school but their prime purpose was the same-the selection of "good students" who would later become "good physicians". Not surprisingly, academic achievement and confidence in estimating this ranked highest in importance, and while non-intellectual characteristics ranked almost as high, committee members had no confidence that they could evaluate these qualities.It is suggested that the ideal selection committee would be a "high-priority" committee consisting of six to eight members who would meet at least twice a year, have tenure of at least four years, be trained in interviewing applicants, consider Medical College Admission Test scores, review applications before each meeting, and establish research committees to investigate the students they choose.

Canada↗
PubMed1966

Applications and enrolments at the Western medical schools: a study of medical matriculants for 1964.

All applicants and those who subsequently enrolled for the 1964-65 session in the Western medical schools were studied with the hope that it would encourage a national registration of applicants. Seven hundred and sixty-four applicants completed 865 applications for 288 places in four schools. Although the principal factor in selecting medical students in all Western schools is pre-medical performance, 49 "good-quality" (academically of good standing and under 30 years of age) resident applicants were not accepted in their own provincial school, and 49 places were filled with "poor-quality" students.The loss of good applicants to the Western medical schools and the 20% overlap of each school's applicant pool with that of other schools suggests that objective standards of quality must be developed, and that a regular annual national assessment of applicants should be conducted by the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges.

Canada↗
PubMed1966

The response of physicians to a mailed questionnaire: a study in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.

During 1965, 1585 questionnaires were sent to physicians in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario to elicit information about persons who had died and in whom a chronic non-specific respiratory disease had been recorded on the registration of death. The response rate to the first letter of enquiry was 54.1%. This was improved to 76.5% when the enquiry was sent by registered mail, and to 90.6% by a registered special appeal. The final response rate was 93.8% for British Columbia, 92.8% for Manitoba and 89.5% for Ontario. Although response varied with the time of the year, there was no evident relationship between response rate and characteristics of the physician. Physician characteristics studied were place and year of graduation and the nature of practice. Acceptable and high response rates to mailed questionnaires eliciting clinical data from physicians can be obtained if the investigator's concern is demonstrated by sending the request in successive waves to the diminishing group of non-respondents.

Canada↗
PubMed1966

The incidence of illness among young children in two communities of different air quality: a pilot study.

An epidemiological study of illness, causing an absence from school of grade one pupils, was conducted from January to June 1965 at two west coast areas, in order to study the community health effects of emissions from a large kraft pulp mill. Enquiry was made by telephone or home visit for each of the 2084 absences experienced by the 752 pupils and the symptoms, duration of illness, physician attendance and hospitalization were determined in each case. A series of indices of disease incidence and duration were prepared to account for school transfers and different communicable disease attack rates. In general the results were non-conclusive: the incidence of all illness and respiratory illness in the control community of Berryville lay midway between that of the two towns, Seaview and Upper Seaview, which comprised the study community; certain conditions, notably tonsillectomy, inflamed eyes, headache, feverishness and nausea, were, however, more frequent in the polluted area.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1965

The epidemiologist's dilemma: a position paper on the role of epidemiology in Canadian research.

Canadian epidemiology is currently in transition from being primarily interested in infectious disease to becoming active in investigating causes of non-infectious disease. Generally, epidemiologists limit their work to "field", "basic", or "theoretical" epidemiology. In all three fields there appears to be a shortage of qualified personnel which is likely to become even more acute because of new roles that epidemiologists will probably play in the future. A minimum of 40 full-time epidemiologists is currently required in Canada.Departments other than departments of preventive medicine at medical schools and teaching hospitals are currently spending 79.5% of all funds allocated for non-microbiological epidemiological research in Canada. Since epidemiology is by its very nature population orientated, rather than clinically orientated, clinicians require consultative advice from epidemiologists at many stages of their research. Epidemiological facilities in departments of preventive medicine should therefore be strengthened in order to provide research training and didactic courses needed as the numbers of physicians, nurses and paramedical persons are increased.

Canada↗