Because new media have come onstage in the information technology period, also self-learning methods have been diversified. Recently, small group discussion such as clinical conference using the mailing list is lively performed among the primary care physicians, and it is considered to be useful for continuing medical education. To promote the mailing list for continuing medical education, we present as follows; 1) present situation: to show a good example of TFC-ML (total family care-mailing list), 2) usefulness: to know new medical knowledge, new medical information and literatures etc., to discuss clinical cases. 3) issues: a role of moderator, excess of information, correspondence with slander, 4) future: to reevaluate usefulness for continuing medical education. We would like to expect effectiveness of mailing list for continuing medical education.

The aim of this study is to clarify the present situation of activities of continuing medical education (CME) for the primary care physicians to whom the leading hospitals, such as universities and clinical trainee hospitals perform CME in their regions. A questionaire was designed for main 4 parts, as following: 1) On the purpose of CME for the physicians. 2) On the organization (office) managing CME in the hospitals. 3) On the strategies of CME. 4) On the evaluation of CME. Answers to a questionaire were replied from 234 institutions (58.1%). Analyzing the results, we recognized that the leading hospitals actively carried out CME for the primary care physicians in the community. Furthermore, conversion to experiential learning from passive learning and establishment of evaluation methods should be promoted in CME.

Background and Method: To identify the cause of conflicts between medical residents and nurses during daily care practices in a general medicine ward, we observed and conducted interviews with 12 residents in their second postgraduate year. Results: We found three typical situations that are likely to lead to conflicts. 1) Both residents and nurses, especially when they are less experienced, are too occupied with their daily tasks to understand their counterpart's difficulties. 2) Nurses push residents to make quicker decisions beyond their discretion and ability. 3) The medical priority of making a precise diagnosis conflicts with the nursing priority of keeping patients comfortable.

Among the 55 medical residents who had completed the 2-year postgraduate medical training course at Tenri Hospital in the past 5 years, the postgraduate medical education committee analysed 9 residents whose clinical performance was considered inappropriate. The committee, composed of eight instructors, found that residents with initially poor medical knowledge were able to improve their medical performance and skills during their 2 years of training; however, other residents who lacked responsibility towards patients, communication skills, and medical ethics during training had great difficulty improving or altering their attitude or performance in the 2 years.

To evaluate whether general medicine training in our general ward has beneficial effects on postgraduate surgical training, questionnaires on general medicine training was sent to 30 doctors who had undergone initial training as residents in our hospital and were involved in surgical practice at the time of the survey. Twenty-two responses were obtained. Fifteen respondents had motivation for general practice at the beginning of their residency, and 20 attained their objectives during the 2-year training. Nineteen respondents appreciated their experiences in managing a variety of diseases encompassing the disciplines of internal medicine and surgery, although 12 complained of a shortage of teaching staff. From the viewpoint of its contribution to their present practice, their training in the general ward was evaluated by all respondents as having been beneficial. We conclude that general medicine training has beneficial effects on postgraduate surgical training that emphasizes comprehensive patient care.

The working group on the education of general medicine, Japan Society for Medical Education, has defined general medicine as a discipline which includes following three areas; 1) basic clinical skills which incorporate humane health care, 2) comprehensive community and family medicine and 3) general internal medicine which provides integrated services to solve clinical problems at any level. It has also issued a proposal on undergraduate education of general medicine at university hospitals. The working group now propose a detailed sample curriculum which describes the instruction in three areas mentioned above. Overview, General Instructional Objective (GTO), Specific Behavioral Objectives (SBOs), Learning Strategies (LS) and Evaluation are included in this sequence.

In the past 2 years, all 1st-year medical trainees have been instructed in physical examination of patients with heart disease in the general ward of Tenri Hospital by two or three 2nd-year medical trainees who had received special training in physical examination for heart disease. After 1 year of training, all 1st-year medical trainees became confident in making a proper physical examination and in detecting an S3 gallop but were not confident in detecting other abnormal physical findings. On the other hand, the 2nd-year medical trainees thought that they were able to organize their own medical knowledge by teaching 1st-year medical trainees.

Objective: To investigate the role of postgraduate clinical training at the emergency department of Tenri Hospital in teaching the diagnostic process in the general outpatient department.
Method: Patients seen by 11 first-year residents at the emergency department were consecutively registered with summary sheets. Further information was added, and an analysis was performed of: 1) the distribution of chief complaints in the emergency and general outpatient departments and 2) initial diagnoses and the diagnostic process in the emergency department and the final diagnoses.
Results: The distributions of chief complaints in 89 cases in the emergency department and in 183 cases in the general outpatient department were closely correlated (p=0.0016). Diagnoses in the emergency department were correct in 58% of cases. Treatment was incorrect in 3% of cases.
Conclusion: The distributions of chief complaints in the emergency and general outpatient departments were similar. In our hospital the emergency department plays a major role in postgraduate clinical training by teaching the diagnostic process for the general outpatient department. Clinical management, including decision making for further tests and consultation, in the emergency department by first year residents did lead to any major adverse events.

Eleven 2nd-year medical residents were given the opportunity to take histories and give physical examinations for patients whose complaints included chest pain, palpitations, dyspnea on exertion, fainting, asymptomatic electrocardiographic abnormalities, and hypertension. Each resident took part in this program in an instructor's outpatient clinic twice a week for 2 consecutive months; each resident saw an average of 19 patients. The instructor discussed with the residents how to make diagnoses logically and the necessity of emergency treatment. The residents learned that taking histories accurately is an extremely important diagnostic tool, that a systematic approach is important, and that clinical decisions are often influenced by nonmedical factors. Medical residents need to have experience with such patients to improve their ability to take histories and perform physical examinations; however, proper supervision by an instructor in more important.

We have conducted weekly 40-minute training session of ECG diagnosis for lst-year postgraduate medical trainees for 6 months. Their abilities to read ECGs were tested before and after training sessions. Before training (just after graduation from medical school) they were able to diagnose typical ECGs if each tracing had only one abnormality and if enough time was given for interpretation. However, they frequently misdiagnosed even ECGs that they had correctly diagnosed on pre-tests if they were presented with many other ECGs and the time for interpretation was limited. Post-tests by students and teachers showed that our training of systematic and orderly reading of ECGs has enabled students to describe ECG findings fairly accurately but could not teach them to diagnose underlying cardiac disorders.