This one speaks for itself: If we are to change how medicine is practiced, we need to appropriately change the way we train the practitioners.
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Medical Education Innovation Is Needed To Improve Health Care – Health Affairs Blog
This discussion will be key moving forward as we attempt to improve healthcare practice and treatment. It seems that new ideas about how to best train physicians could be met with strong opposition from powerful individuals who believe in current programs. One does not want to produce less medically informed doctors by removing necessary coursework. However, training doctors to better understand the importance of prevention and the many influences on health beyond the patient's body should be key areas of emphasis. Also, we should recognize that medical school is a very demanding experience. If new programs produce even more demands on students limited time, they will not be able to do any of their training as effectively. It will be important to analyze which coursework is necessary and which can be replaced or modified. Perhaps this could be an excellent opportunity to perform comparative effectiveness research to determine what is the best curriculum if we hope to produce effective, compassionate, well-informed doctors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nick. It might be a big burden on medical students. What we can do is to make these courses elective, and set up some type of financial stimulus (tuition assistance for students taking these courses). Also, I think IT will play a big role in the next generation of medical education, and hence some IT course should be considered for the addition of coursework.
ReplyDeleteI worry about the health of medical students. They already are the most likely of students receiving a professional degree to have poor health habits. Many start smoking, eat unhealthly, lead sedentary lives, forgo sleep, take pills to stay awake and then take pills to rest. How are these people going to advise patients about healthy lifestyles if they have had such a heavy schedule imposed on them that they do not understand HOW to adopt healthy behaviors. --- I think this also addresses our culture in general, whereas European countries have adopted mandatory vacation time and the "slow movement", we are tied to work through mobile device and productivity is expected round the clock or we fear being terminated.
ReplyDeleteDoctors in training should be given some life/study balance specifically to work on the fundamentals of wellness and then they may be more likely to advocate this position for their patients (ie. American society). This could help us as a society and help improve the doctor/patient relationship.
Why should anyone go to a doctor that does not himself or herself exhibit good health habits? It is a sign of the allopathic paradigm that good health habits are not emphasized in Medical Schools. If we want doctors (esp. primary doctors) that can discuss elements of primary prevention and wellness with patients, we have to build a training environment in which they can practice these components of health themselves.