Comparative observations of medical education.

Abstract

MEDICINE shares vigorously in our national concern about education. Recently advisory groups to our government, chaired by persons whose names follow the incredible succession of Bayne-Jones, 1 Bane, 2 and Jones, 3 have submitted reports relating to medical research, education, and practice. From these and other reports 4-6 one learns of studies of the preparation of students for medicine, selection procedures, curricular designs, assessment of student performance, teaching methods, internship, and graduate resident training programs. One may learn, too, of experiments in health service plans and of attempts to assess operationally the physician's job. 7-9 There is growing recognition and understanding that medicine, or more broadly health science, is intimately and relevantly involved in and with the society in which it exists and which it serves. Should medicine be exclusively concerned with service here and now to the exclusion of other interests? The medical school, like all schools in the