Though body size can be altered with environmental or behavioral changes, anatomic shape, which appears to be genetically determined, cannot be changed except by surgery, trauma, or illness.
Adaptive, simulation-based Internet training sites with intelligent agents can offer medical students a virtual clinic for learning about the process and multiple outcomes of patient decision making.
An examination of some of the factors that can weaken the therapeutic nature of the patient-physician relationship and how a physician can resolve them in the patient's best interest.