Andrew B Symons

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York | SUNY Buffalo · Department of Family Medicine

Background Despite demonstrated benefits of continuity of care, longitudinal care experiences are difficult to provide to medical students. A series of standardized patient encounters was developed as an innovative curricular element to address this gap in training for medical students in a family medicine clerkship. The objective of this paper is...

Abstract There is evidence that early and frequent encounters with people with disabilities can improve medical students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes about disability. As part of a 4-year integrated curriculum in caring for patients with disabilities, third-year medical students (n = 144) in a Family Medicine clerkship participated in a day-lo...

Negative healthcare provider attitudes toward patients with physical disabilities may challenge the delivery of quality care to patients. The objective of this study was to systematically review published studies examining the attitudes of healthcare students and professionals toward patients with physical disabilities. In October 2011, we searched...

As curricula to improve medical students' attitudes toward people with disabilities are developed, instruments are needed to guide the process and evaluate effectiveness. The authors developed an instrument to measure medical students' attitudes toward people with disabilities. A pilot instrument with 30 items in four sections was administered to 3...

The response rates to physician postal surveys remain modest. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effect of tracking responses on physician survey response rate (i.e., determining whether each potential participant has responded or not). A secondary objective was to assess the effects of day of mailing (Monday vs. Friday) on physi...

Instruments to detect changes in attitudes towards people with disabilities are important for evaluation of training programs and for research. While we were interested in instruments specific for medical students, we aimed to systematically review the medical literature for validated survey instruments used to measure attitudes of healthcare stude...

The evidence supporting the effectiveness of educational games in graduate medical education is limited. Anecdotal reports suggest their popularity in that setting. The objective of this study was to explore the support for and the different aspects of use of educational games in family medicine and internal medicine residency programs in the Unite...

Lack of knowledge and skills, and negative attitudes towards patients with disabilities, may adversely affect the services available to this group and negatively affect their health outcomes. The objective of this paper is to describe the development and initial implementation of a curriculum for teaching medical students to care for patients with...

Teaching the content of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) is important to both clinical care and graduate medical education. The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of curricula for teaching the content of CPGs in family medicine and internal medicine residency programs in the United States. We surveyed the directors of f...

Effective communication skills and professionalism are critical for physicians in order to provide optimum care and achieve better health outcomes. The aims of this study were to evaluate residents' self-assessment of their communication skills and professionalism in dealing with patients, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of a self-asses...

Stable diatom populations in earthen ponds for fishpond effluent treatment supported fast rates of bivalve growth in integrated mariculture systems. However, when these ponds were lined with PVC plastic sheets to prevent seepage, the populations of benthic diatoms dwindled, and did not support, as before, a commercially acceptable rate of growth by...

PurposeTo determine nurse practitioners’ (NPs’) knowledge and reported practices regarding breast cancer screening in a climate of conflicting guidelines.Data SourceA descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was used to examine approaches to cancer screening among NPs in western New York.Conclusions Among the 175 NP respondents, agreement with th...

Smallpox virus has gained considerable attention as a potential bioterrorism agent. Recommendations for smallpox (vaccinia) vaccination presume a low risk for use of smallpox as a terrorist biological agent and vaccination is currently recommended for selected groups of individuals such as health care workers, public health authorities, and emergen...

This study examines variations in breast cancer screening among primary care clinicians by geographic location of clinical practice. A cross-sectional survey design was used to examine approaches to breast cancer screening among physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants involved in primary care practice. A summary index of beliefs a...

Guidelines for breast cancer screening often provide conflicting recommndations. A cross-sectional survey design was used to examine approaches to cancer screening among primary care physicians. Among the 187 respondents, levels of agreement with the "correct" response ranged between 50% and 73% for each of the four items relating to breast cancer...

Larger foraminifera, as a group, are the hosts for many different types of algae. The majority of modern families host small (< 10 μm) pennate endosymbiotic diatoms. In these, the host/symbiont relationship is not finical. Studies from hosts harvested from Indo-Pacific habitats have shown some symbiont species are found with greater frequency than...

Smallpox virus has gained considerable attention as a potential bioterrorism agent. Recommendations for smallpox (vaccinia) vaccination presume a low risk for use of smallpox as a terrorist biological agent and vaccination is currently recommended for selected groups of individuals such as health care workers, public health authorities, and emergen...