COVID-19 challenge with regard to medical schools social accountability: new professional and human perspectives

Abstract

Medical schools play a central role in the compilation and development of professional knowledge, which is why they have privileges and resources that are justified only to the extent that they use them to serve the community, particularly those who are most in need. Medical schools social accountability focuses on the training, healthcare provision and research services they offer. The principles of medical education and the structure proposed by the Flexner Report are in crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and redefinition of the social contract is required. This document offers a proposal for medical schools social accountability that includes anticipation of the needs of the community, patient-centered inter-professional care, training of people in the area of health and collaboration between institutions. It highlights the need for a conscious institution that finds new training spaces other than hospitals, where each patient is cared for in a personalized way, with inter-professional training models that consider the student as a person who takes care of him/herself in open collaboration with organizations. Leaders must act now because it is their social responsibility and because it is the right thing to do.