The Director of Medical Education

Abstract

Since the end of World War II, there has appeared in American medicine a new specialist, the director of medical education. His role in graduate and postgraduate medical education is widely misunderstood by the practicing profession, hospital administrators, and medical school officials. Scores of non-university hospitals have established positions for a part-time or full-time educational director, with the expectation that he will create an outstanding program for interns, residents, and visiting staffs, magically solving current critical manpower shortages. Moreover, too often these appointments have been filled by unqualified or partially informed men. If these trends continue, it is certain that widespread dissatisfaction and disappointment will develop, tending to discredit an important contribution to the establishment of non-university hospitals as teaching institutions. Twenty years ago the report of the Commission on Graduate Medical Education 1 described the concept of the director of medical education, outlined his responsibilities, and concisely delineated the