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The authors in this article present assessments by attending physicians of a seminar method to improve clinical teaching. An experimental study was conducted to determine whether or not the seminar method (a) is perceived by attending physicians as beneficial, (b) modifies the physicians' attitudes toward teaching, (c) enables attending physicians to define needed teaching changes, (d) motivates them to improve their teaching performance, and (e) is perceived as having long-term benefits. Forty-six inpatient attending physicians from four California institutions participated in the study. The physicians were randomly assigned to an experimental group which attended a seminar on clinical teaching or to a control group which received no such intervention. Questionnaires completed by the physicians indicated that the teachers who experienced the seminar method perceived it as beneficial, improved their attitudes toward clinical teaching, determined needed teaching changes, attempted to implement new teaching approaches, and perceived long-term benefits.

Graduate medical education in the setting of a large health maintenance organization (HMO) is a challenging enterprise with surmountable problems and tangible rewards. Ten years ago an independent residency program in internal medicine was begun at one of the largest medical centers in the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California. The residency program, at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, is described and compared with other graduate medical programs. Included are discussions of curriculum development, faculty, funding, medical school affiliation, and the role of HMOs in graduate training.