What's wrong with medical education in Britain?

Abstract

BMJ 1992;305:1277-80 Something is seriously wrong with medical education in Britain. Professor Lesley Rees, dean of St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, London, recalls with horror the transformation of eager, motivated school leavers into narrow minded, dis? illusioned medical graduates. Immediately I became sub-dean at Barts there was a great stamping of feet into my office, with complaints about everything. I cannot remember half of them, but it was a depressing experience to hear young men and women complaining of all the inadequacies that they perceived in the educational process that they had been through for five years. The General Medical Council admits that the traditional medical course is stifling students: Imagination and curiosity are soon dulled and learn? ing patterns quickly adapt to the need to absorb knowledge, often at a superficial level_* A recent national consensus inquiry organised by the King's Fund confirmed that such worries about the under? graduate medical curriculum are widespread: There is widespread agreement that present curricula are grossly overcrowded with factual information which soon becomes out of date and inhibits students from developing into creative critical thinkers and problem solvers.2