Medical education in Italy: Challenges and opportunities

Fabrizio Consorti,Giuseppe Familiari,Antonella Lotti,Dario Torre

doi:10.1080/0142159x.2021.1959024

Abstract

Italy is a country of 60 million citizens with a high life expectancy, an increasing prevalence of chronic multi-morbidity and a public healthcare system. There are 61 medical schools and more than one thousand postgraduate programs for 50 different specialisations. In this article, we describe the Italian medical educational system and its most recent evolution towards a process of internationalization, alongside pedagogical and cultural changes. The main challenges are in the process of students’ selection, which is still only based on the assessment of basic knowledge, and in the reform of the post-graduate education, which lacks an official, formal definition of the learning outcomes and the aligned methods of assessment. The opportunities come from the increasing awareness of the importance of faculty development programs. The pandemic itself acted as a catalyst of innovation, pushing toward more student-centered teaching-learning activities. Finally, an increase in international collaborations in medical education research could be effective to foster the development of medical education in the country.

Highlights

Is a country of 60 million citizens with a high life expectancy, an increasing prevalence of chronic multi-morbidity and a public healthcare system
The mean age of the population is presently 45.2 years and the life expectancy at birth is relatively high: 81.1 years. for men and 85.4 years. for women. These indices have been constantly growing over the last 20 years and this puts a heavy burden on the healthcare system, with the increasing rate of disability and multi-morbidity (ISTAT 2021)
The population in the southern regions has a mean lower income, a higher rate of unemployment, a lower rate of graduate than the population of central and northern regions. These differences are rooted in the geography and history of Italy, and they ask a still unanswered political question, having an obvious impact on health, for example with a lower life expectancy at birth in the south of the country (ISTAT 2021)

Summary

ScienƟfic Methodology

A rather recent addition to the educational structure is the development of internationalisation in medical schools and their curricula, opened to an international audience, and to Italian students seeking to share their learning experience with classmates from all over the world. Lectures and other training activities are delivered in English, while during the later clinical years, students are expected to be able to interact with patients and other healthcare professionals in the Italian language. An increased attractiveness for international students is a reaction to the fact that more and more Italian medical graduates every year go abroad to look for a position: the estimate is about 1800 per year This fact has economic and social reasons: in the last 10 years, the National Health System has been underfinanced and – despite the need to assure the turn-over – fewer positions are offered to young doctors. The support of a wider community of scholars, to share ideas and experiences and collaboration in research projects can be a fundamental driver for further development of medical education in Italy (Harden et al 2018; Harden 2018)

Conclusions

Findings

Notes on contributors