The process of change in medical education in Switzerland

Abstract

Centuries of tradition have instilled in Swiss medical doctors a healthy skepticism for innovations in professional practice. This same attitude seems to apply to medical education, with Swiss medical associations and interest groups taking various initiatives in observing and reporting international changes. Recently, a small delegation of Swiss doctors representing practitioners—and professors from the medical schools in Geneva and Berne— visited selected North American medical schools that have adopted problem‐based curricula. That visit led to insights being discussed at a national conference in Berne in 1989. The conference was well represented—with faculty and students from all five Swiss medical schools, invited health professionals, politicians, and administrators. The main challenge confronting any likely major curriculum reform in Switzerland will be whether faculty can accept the kind of educational principles now being implemented at the University of Berne and those recommended at the 1988 Wo...