The use of learning resource centers in the teaching of pulmonary medicine

Learning resource centers (LRC) are areas designed for individual study which contain a variety of self-instructional materials. To evaluate the use of LRC in teaching pulmonary medicine, a survey was conducted of medical school pulmonary sections; responses were obtained from 30 sections with an NHLBI pulmonary Academic Award (PAA groups), and 21 sections without PAA (non-PAA group). LRC were established in 77 percent of the PAA group but only 14 percent of the non-PAA group. A higher percentage of pulmonary fellows than students used the resource center and student use was higher when the LRC was formally integrated into the curriculum. Textbooks and journals were more heavily used than materials utilizing audiovisual educational techniques. The results of this study suggest that pulmonary LRC use is modest, LRC cost is high, and LRC educational value may not be superior to general medical libraries.