Canadian Medical Education Research Articles

The Medical School's Mission and the Population's Health: Medical Education in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia

Billed as the proceedings of a conference on medical education in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, this book is, in fact, much more than mere transactions. Sponsored by the Royal Society of Medicine Foundation, Inc, and the Josiah Macy, Jr, Foundation, the December 1990 conference was preceded by more than a year of careful planning and preparation. The 37 participants (20 from the United States) received penultimate drafts of the major chapters three weeks before the conference. Respondents arrived with their prepared commentaries, and a great deal of time was left for discussion by the group at large. The careful preparation and sequencing of the conference are evident in the book, which benefits from excellent introductory and closing chapters by the editors. As a participant, although not an author of any of the major pieces, I can attest that the conference worked as a conference just

The Organization and Financing of Graduate Medical Education in Canada

IN THE mid-1970s, US government officials and other health policymakers began expressing concerns about the impact of physician maldistribution, both by specialty and by location, on the provision of medical care. 1-3 Government committees were established to study the problem and determine how the organization and financing of the nation's graduate medical education (GME) system was a contributing factor. 4,5 Stimulated by the government's interest, professional organizations and foundations sponsored independent studies of the relation between physicians' choice of specialty and location and the organization of GME. In general, these groups concluded that the policymakers' concerns were legitimate and the imbalances could not be effectively redressed without changing the way GME is organized and financed. 6-8 Although many in the medical profession agree that the policymakers' concerns are legitimate, there is still no concensus within the profession as to how the GME system should be reformed to improve physician specialty

The organization and financing of graduate medical education in Canada

The organization and financing of graduate medical education in Canada

Origin of the LCME, the AAMC-AMA partnership for accreditation.

The accrediting agency for U.S. and Canadian medical education programs, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), was founded 50 years ago at a 1942 meeting of leaders of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association. The author, using sources from the AAMC archives and elsewhere, describes the background, content, and outcomes of this meeting, which was called to devise ways for the two organizations to avoid duplication of effort during the emergency conditions brought about by World War II. The participants met for several specific reasons: to create a united front to protect medical students from the wartime draft, to find economies in carrying out the profession's duties to assure the quality of medical education, and to survey medical schools that were being affected by pressure for continuous sessions and accelerated medical training. At this meeting a joint board for medical school surveys was created; eventually this liaison board became known as the LCME. The author closes with a quote from the 1942 meeting concerning the social responsibility of medical education and notes the continuing importance to translate this and other imperatives into standards for accreditation that protect educational quality and foster its improvement.

Epidemiology, public health and preventive medicine in veterinary medical education in Canada and the United States

A survey was conducted of teachers, faculty positions, curricula, and administrative structure of epidemiology, public health and preventive medicine in the professional curricula of 28 veterinary schools in Canada and the United States. All or nearly all schools allocated core curricular time to courses in epidemiology, public health, food, safety, and preventive medicine. Fewer schools allocated time to regulatory medicine (79%), economics (75%), biometry (61%) and environmental protection (54%). Of the 148 surveyed teachers of these disciplines, 92% had the DVM or equivalent degree, and 52% had both DVM and Ph.D. degree. In the period 1987–1989, 33 faculty positions related to epidemiology and preventive medicine were filled, and in mid-1989 there were 41 vacant or anticipated positions. Of the 41 vacant or anticipated positions, the DVM (or equivalent) degree was required in 85%, and the DVM and Ph.D. degrees were required in 61%. Analytic epidemiology (quantitative methodology) and livestock/herd health management were the most common areas of emphasis required in the vacant or anticipated positions.

Aspects of Canadian Medical Education

These three books provide examples of each of three major types of historical writing: institutional history, biography, and a topical monograph. Two of the three works deal only with medical education whereas the biography contains much about medical education as well as aspects of group practice and organized medicine. The value of these books varies from an admirable, essential history (Travill on Queen's), through a solid presentation of various important topics (Cunnings on Thorlakson), to a patchwork of information on how internships and residencies were established in Calgary (McDougall).

Seminar on Canadian Medical Education in Palliative Care – A Report. 7th International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill, Montreal, October 20, 1988

Seminar on Canadian Medical Education in Palliative Care – A Report. 7th International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill, Montreal, October 20, 1988

Medical education in Canada: the situation in 1984

Medical education in Canada: the situation in 1984

STUDENT ASSESSMENT IN MEDICAL EDUCATION: A CANADIAN CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT The assessment system of a Canadian medical education program is described. The M.D. Program at McMaster University features the central use of clinical cases as the basis for learning, and the fostering of independence in learning by students. The assessment system, designed to match the objectives and methods of learning, is guided by several principles. These include a balanced emphasis on a range of objectives, the use of on‐going informal feedback, defined and shared responsibilities in assessment, and the design and use of measures which most appropriately match the objectives. More than ten years of experience has pointed out several lessons: if self‐directed learning is held as important, there is a trade‐off between excessively specific objectives, on the one hand, and too little guidance on the other. This attempt to create a balance between these extremes produces a degree of unevenness in the assessment system. External influences such as the national licensing examinations have some effect on the learning climate. It is predicted that the basic elements of the assessment system will remain in place, but some specific changes will occur. These include a clearer statement of objectives on which assessment can be based, the improvement of measurement tools, and an increased emphasis on the training of those who participate in the assessment system.

Medical Education in Canada

Canada's problems in medical education result in part from the economic-geographic fact of Canada's small and dispersed population. Also pertinent is the influence of not one but several major schools of scientific thought: American, British, and French. A group of distinguished Canadian educators, under the aegis of the Royal Commission on Health Services, prepared this report. The educators are all physicians; one is the dean of a faculty of medicine, three are former deans, and two, professors of medicine. The assessment was carried out between 1961 and 1964, and included visits to all Canadian medical faculties and new schools in other countries. The authors analyze various facets of medical education: medical students, curriculum, medical schools, teaching hospitals, finance, training of teachers, postgraduate and continuing education, research, medical manpower, expansion of educational resources, and paramedical manpower. Medical-manpower problems receive particularly detailed scrutiny. After calculating the probable requirements for the next 30

Curriculum in Canadian Medical Education

In general, its teaching curriculum reflects the history of a medical school's interaction with a series of pressures, such as the staggering advance of scientific knowledge and the social demand for greater security against hazards to the welfare of entire populations. Secondary consequences include the isolation of the scientist and loss of the overall view; decline in interest in teaching; depersonalization of medical care; hospital-centred instruction and loss of contact with the viewpoint of the community at the very time that it is demanding more attention. Compensating trends include: increasing confidence in scientific methods, team-work in teaching, the project method of teaching, comprehensive care clinics, and research in educational methods. The conclusion favours medical education that is devoted to the educational needs of the student, to the health needs of the individual patient and of the community, and to the advancement of knowledge and understanding.

Book ReviewReport on a Survey of Medical Education in Canada and the United States.

Book ReviewReport on a Survey of Medical Education in Canada and the United States.

The Standing of Queen's Medical College, Kingston, Ont

To the Editor: InThe Journal, July 2, there is a note on page 38, under Canadian news, on Carnegie Foundation Report and Canadian Medical Colleges, which contains such a serious misstatement that I am forced to protest against it and to ask you to give this equal publicity. The item reads: According to this report of the eight medical colleges would meet the needs of medical education in Canada. These are Toronto, McGill, Manitoba and Laval at Quebec. Now the Carnegie report (page 326) reads thus: At this moment the needs of the Dominion could be met by the better English schools and the Laval department at Quebec. The Kingston school is one of the four better English schools. It ranks next to McGill in point of size and efficiency, and it is placed in Class A by the Council on Medical Education of the American

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN CANADA.

The present situation of medical education in Canada is summarized in a most interesting manner in an editorial in a recent number of the<i>Canada Lancet</i>. The striking peculiarity about Canadian medical education is that all medical teaching is done by the universities. There are seven universities in Canada, with eight medical schools (Laval University having a medical department in Montreal and one in Quebec). Two of the seven universities—Toronto and McGill—require a fiveyear medical course, and it is anticipated that the others will soon make the same provision. Commenting on the situation, the editorial says: "In the gradual evolution of medical education the earlier condition was that of a medical school owned by several persons who gave lectures and paid the running expenses and remunerated themselves out of the fees collected. This state of affairs was the only one possible at one time, as public opinion had not reached