Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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To understand the responses of medical students and educators to high-fidelity patient simulation, a new technology allowing "practice without risk." ⋯ Students' and educators' responses to high-fidelity patient simulation were very positive. The ability to practice without risk must be weighed against the cost of this new technology.
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To demonstrate the usefulness of self-reported cost-accounting data from the sponsors of training programs for estimating the direct costs of graduate medical education (GME). The study also assesses the relative contributions of resident, faculty, and administrative costs to primary care, surgery, and the combined programs of radiology, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and pathology (REAP). ⋯ As policymakers assess government subsidies for GME, more detailed cost information will be required. Self-reported data are more cost-effective and efficient than are the more detailed and costly time-and-motion studies. This data-collection study also revealed that faculty costs, driven by faculty hours and base salaries, represent a higher proportion of direct costs of GME than studies have shown in the past.