Does Medical Education Require Radical Change?

Abstract

Over the last decades, the amount of knowledge that is required from learners in the medical field has become incredibly wide and deep, posing a burden for all stakeholders including medical schools, training hospitals, students, and society. The trajectory that has been established will soon render medical education ineffective, both from the perspective of the students who will not be able to productively internalize and effectively integrate the information they receive, and of the institutions and medical programs that will be unable to keep up with the pace of the medical progress and the relevant subject matter that needs to be taught. To address this burden, sooner than later, bold actions should be taken toward the radical transformation of the medical curriculum both in terms of its duration and its implementation and of the type of knowledge that the medical students will need to excel in, as a prerequisite for their subsequent training.