Physicians and Medicine in the 21st Century - Page 4
5. Medical schools should devote more attention
to selecting students who have
the values and attitudes that are essential for
members of a caring profession,
who have critical analytical abilities, and who
have the ability to learn indepen-
dently.
Along with these recommendations, admissions
criteria will be developed that are
focused at increasing the proportion of students
likely to enter primary care fields.
Therefore, some priority will likely be given to
women and married applicants and those
from public colleges and rural backgrounds, as
well as applicants with impressive evi-
dence of community service.
MEDICAL SCHOOL EDUCATION
The AAMC's GPEP report was a comprehensive
document that dealt with all aspects of
medical education. As far as the curriculum is
concerned, some of the recommendations
by the panel of experts were:
1. Medical schools should develop procedures
and adopt explicit criteria for the
systematic evaluation of student
performance.
2. Medical schools should emphasize the
development of independent learning
and problem-solving skills.
3. The level of skills and knowledge that a
student should reach in order to enter
graduate medical education (residency training)
should be defined more clearly.
4. Medical schools should encourage their
students to concentrate their elective
programs on the advancement of their general
professional education rather
than on pursuit of a residency
position.
5. Medical students' general professional
education should include an emphasis on
the physician's responsibility to work with
individual patients and communities
to promote health and prevent
disease.
Obviously, each medical school will interpret
these guidelines for curriculum
changes according to its own philosophy of
education. This will add greater variability
to the learning experiences one can have at
different institutions. It will obviously be
another significant factor to consider when
selecting a medical school.
Medical education will place less emphasis on
mastery of content and greater
emphasis on the learning process. The latter
will include critical thinking, problem-solv-
ing skills, and the retrieval of information.
In addition, attention will be focused on
independent, self-directed learning skills.
Medical school curricular time will increase
for topics related to preventive medicine,
public and community health, nutrition, geri-
atrics, behavioral sciences, and medical
ethics. There will be greater educational oppor-
tunities in community health centers and
out-patient clinics. Medical schools will place
more emphasis on primary care and seek to
channel a very substantial part of each grad-
uating class into such residency programs.
Thus, physician training will emphasize the
health care needs of the community and nation,
rather than being self-determined or
determined by institutional agencies. Medical
students will become better prepared for
team-oriented practices.
MEDICAL STUDENTS
Medical students will probably consist of
nearly equal numbers of men and women. It is
likely that, while in medical school, students
will be provided with increased opportuni-
ties for community service. While financial aid
will be available, it will be more diffi-
cult to obtain. Close to graduation, students
may find reduced residency opportunities;
after graduation, they will find that they will
have to repay their student loans earlier,
since deferral time will be
reduced.
User Comments Add a comment…