Celebrating Flexner Centennial: Past, Present, and Future

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It's been 100 years since Flexner's landmark report transformed medical schools worldwide.  How far have we come since?  Where do we go next?  Competency-based medical education (CBME) has been hailed as the next transformation in medical training, but its promise is tempered with some perils.  This session will discuss some of the current controversies and criticisms of contemporary medical education and the emerging directions on the horizon that promises to remake all of health professions education. 

Presenter:  Jason R. Frank, M.D., M.A. (Ed)
 

For most of the last century allopathic medical schools have functionally recognized that medical practice should be based on science. The preparation for that scientific practice of medicine has generally been defined by a set of premedical courses heavy in the natural sciences continuing into the initial portion of medical training with more intense biological discipline based studies. The recent growth in the biological knowledge important to medical practice; the increased dependence on informational science and statistical evaluation of  medical data; and the growing importance of physical science based medical technologies has placed increased demand on the medical education system. Since increasing the length of medical training is neither popular nor feasible, educators are faced with finding ways to increase science in the curriculum without increasing the amount of time devoted to learning it. Recognizing this, the AAMC and HHMI convened a committee of premedical and medical science educators to define what science a physician would need to use to practice medicine in the 21st century and then to determine where in the medical education process that science should be learned. The committee made several recommendations for consideration by the medial and premedical education community. The committee: 1) agreed that medical and premedical science education should focus on competencies rather than courses; 2) identified 11 overarching general principles for medical science education; and 3) established 8 competencies that every entering medical student should have mastered and 8 broad competencies every medical student should demonstrate prior to graduation.  The committee then identified sample learning objectives and specific curricular examples to guide the interpretation of the learning objectives and competencies.

The presentation will focus on how the AAMC-HHMI report came to be; some of the philosophical underpinnings of the report; the structure of the competencies, learning objectives and examples; and the possible changes in premedical and medical curricula that could result. 

Presenter:  William R. Galey, Ph.D.

MR5:  The Fifth Comprehensive Review of the Medical College Admission Test

In October 2007, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) began a comprehensive review of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).  This review represents the fifth time that the MCAT exam has been reviewed since it was first administered in 1928.  The review is being conducted by a 22-member committee appointed by the AAMC.  Included on this committee are: current and former medical school deans; admissions, educational affairs, student affairs, and diversity officers; basic and clinical sciences faculty; pre-health advisors and other baccalaureate faculty; and one medical student.

The committee is tasked with reviewing the current MCAT exam and recommending changes that keep pace with advances in medical education and practice.  During the session, Drs. Rosenfeld and Oppler will address the following questions:  What does the current MCAT exam measure?  What is the MR5 project and what are its goals?  What has the committee accomplished so far?  (and) What are the upcoming steps in the project?  In addition, the presenters would like to build on participants' expertise and experience by asking about their goals for a future test and their knowledge of research and other work that should inform the review.

Presenter: Scott H. Oppler, Ph.D. & Gary Rosenfeld, Ph.D.

Over the past 100 years, what themes have dominated calls for reform of American medical education? What can we learn from these themes about current calls for reform, and what underlying principles should guide architects of medical education in the future?

Presenter: Richard Gunderman, M.D., Ph.D.

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