Journal of general internal medicine
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Comparative Study
Comorbid depression is associated with an increased risk of dementia diagnosis in patients with diabetes: a prospective cohort study.
Both depression and diabetes have been found to be risk factors for dementia. This study examined whether comorbid depression in patients with diabetes increases the risk for dementia compared to those with diabetes alone. ⋯ Patients with major depression and diabetes had an increased risk of development of dementia compared to those with diabetes alone. These data add to recent findings showing that depression was associated with an increased risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications in patients with diabetes.
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Comparative Study
Medical students' perceptions of their teachers' and their own cultural competency: implications for education.
Enhancing the cultural competency of students is emerging as a key issue in medical education; however, students may perceive that they are more able to function within cross-cultural situations than their teachers, reducing the effectiveness of cultural competency educational efforts. ⋯ Our results indicate that students perceive the cultural competency of their attendings and residents to be the same or lower than themselves. These findings indicate that this is an important area for future research and curricular reform, considering the vital role that attendings and residents play in the education of medical students.
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In caring exclusively for inpatients, hospitalists are expected to perform hospital procedures. The type and frequency of procedures they perform are not well characterized. ⋯ Hospitalists perform inpatient procedures more often and at higher volumes than non-hospitalists. Yet many do not perform procedures that are designated as hospitalist "core competencies."
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Training is essential for future health care providers to effectively communicate with limited English proficient (LEP) patients during interpreted encounters. Our aim is to describe an innovative skill-based medical school linguistic competency curriculum and its impact on knowledge and skills. ⋯ Our curriculum increased knowledge and led to skill attainment, each of which showed good durability for a cohort of students evaluated 3 years later. With a growing LEP population, these skills are essential to foster in future health care providers to effectively communicate with LEP patients and reduce health disparities.