New age med schools are looking beyond medical skills
Many med schools under the American Medical Association are seeing changes in what they are imparting to their students. Despite the dynamic character of medicine, medical training methods have remained static. Some of the top medical schools around US have realized the need to break down this frozen structure and find new ways to train the new generation doctor.
Abraham Flexner, an American educator known for reforming medical education in 1900s still holds a grip on the medical education of today. While he has done great things from which a lot has been learnt, it is time for a new model of training, says Dr. Raj Mangrulkar, associate dean for medical student education at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Flexner pioneered the “two plus two” model of education in which the students spend their first two year in the classroom and the next two shadowing doctors in hospitals and clinics. This model was a huge improvement from the 19th century one, but, in the 21st century it seems to face a lack. Medicine has now grown beyond being contained in two year. Moreover, doctors are required to have other skills beyond medicine as well.
“Medicine is constantly in flux. We need to give students the tools to be adaptable, to be resilient, to problem-solve — push through some things, accept some things, but change other things.” – Dr. Raj Mangrulkar
Hence, Michigan and other schools are now trying to prepare students to face the inevitable changes they will come across throughout their career.
A few major changes that have been incorporated are: focus on the working of the entire health system as opposed to just treating patients, the introduction of communication skills into curriculum and teamwork.
In order to learn the working of the entire health system, students are placed under clinical managers instead of physicians. Also, according to Dr. Susan Skochelak, a vice president with the American Medical Association, the new teaching has an added benefit of faculty members learning along with the students.
For polishing communication skills, students now find themselves in a separate class in which they have mock sessions for negotiating the price of a BMW or deciding who should credit for an imaginary journal article. Dr. Erin McKean, surgeon and teacher at the university, points out that although it may seem odd for medical students to study, it is essential that they do because they would have to communicate life and death matters during their career.
“We haven’t taught people how to be specific about working in teams, how to communicate with peers and colleagues and how to communicate to the general public about what’s going on in health care and medicine.” – Dr. Erin McKean
As Onur Yenigun, a student points out; it is not possible for one to know everything. Thus, learning how to work in a team becomes extremely important, because in their career, students will have to be part of a team. In the University of California, San Francisco, several groups of students practice teamwork by working together to solve a genetics problem.
Medical schools part of the AMA project are already sharing their knowledge with each other and incorporating the new system. The success of these will soon be shared among other medical schools in the country as well.
