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Gwen Wagstrom Halaas

Publications and source records attributed to Gwen Wagstrom Halaas.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Comparing rural-trained medical students with their peers: performance in a primary care OSCE.

BACKGROUND: Although it is well-established and considered successful, there is limited data on how the graduates of a Minnesota rural medical education program (Rural Physician Associate Program [RPAP]) compare with their peers. PURPOSE: To compare the performance of RPAP students with their peers on a primary care observed structured clinical examination (OSCE). METHODS: The performances of RPAP students and a group of non-RPAP Year 4 medical students were compared on the same OSCE. RESULTS: RPAP students performed at least as well as their peers on stations assessing performance on common primary care clinical scenarios but not as well on a small number of stations that assessed applied knowledge of specific content taught in the traditional clerkship curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that rurally trained students at this institution performed at least as well as their peers on OSCE stations testing performance in common primary care scenarios. The broader implications of this study are that medical students may receive high-quality training in rural communities, as documented by their performance on an objective structured clinical examination.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The rural physician associate program: new directions in education for competency.

The Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) has 34 years experience in training 1097 medical students as independent distance learners in a 36-week, community-based continuity primary care experience. This program has been successful in preparing competitive students who select primary care residencies and return to rural practice. The RPAP program has been based on traditional apprentice-style clinical teaching with the support of computer-based resources to enhance distance learning. However while the clinical exposure and development of medical skills was strong, there were weaknesses in evidence-based medicine and managing healthcare, and inconsistencies in community or population health learning. New directions in the educational program for RPAP are described that have been or are being developed to address the competencies as outlined by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. They include online and other resources, preceptor education and support, interactive journaling and cases, electronic portfolios, community projects, observed structured clinical exams and examinations. Ongoing challenges to competency-based education include developing meaningful measures and tools to assess competence for areas such as professionalism or systems-based practice; providing faculty development toward being able to practice, teach and evaluate students with an understanding of the competencies; and to build in ways of practicing, learning and improving care that involve effective teams of health-care professionals.

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Defining a future for fee-for-service Medicare.

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) provides economic incentives that favor health plans over traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. This reflects an ideological preference for private plans rather than government-administered pricing and recognition that private plans can use tools effectively to improve quality. However, enrollment projections indicate that FFS will continue to attract the majority of beneficiaries for years to come. We argue that MMA's contractor reform provisions create the opportunity to build critical FFS infrastructure, and contractors have the potential to encourage quality and manage utilization to compete with private plans in a modernized Medicare.

Advisory Committees↗