Pre-Flexner - Medical Education Essay Sample

Before Flexner report publicized of the back in 1910, the education in the medical sector in America and Canada was nothing but universality. There was lack of uniform standards, the system did not have any certification that ought to have been obtained before one is able to diagnose and to give medication to patients and generally there was no resident training or any postgraduate training that was required. There were also quite a good number of medical schools before the Flexner report and most of these schools were established for commercial purposes and as a result the medical schools that existed faced varied as well as weak admissions. Some of these institutions required a university or college degree, others required a diploma from one of the high schools and still, others needed similar activities or equivalent training without any formal certification in terms of degree or diploma.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

There were also some significant differences in the content delivered in most of the institutions due to lack of a common curriculum. most of these institutions followed the apprenticeship model of training. The Association of the American Medical Colleges in collaboration with the American Medical Association in the early 1900s were concerned about the situation in the medical training and they were convinced that here was a need to take an action. . At this juncture, they drew their attention to the Carnegie Foundation and requested the group to conduct a survey on the condition of the medical education in the United States. The report of this study was released in 1910 and it came to be referred to as the Flexner report. The report had some profound effects on physician education.

The basic conclusions of thereport had a number of reforms that aided in the advancement of the United Statesmedical education. he said that the medical schools that used the university curricula portrayed the best approach to the medical education and as such, it should be enacted in all the institutions. In general, medical institutions should provide educational programs that are strong and hence provide highly trained personnel in the medical profession. The report had a number of recommendations and among them, it stated that science was a fundamental discipline in medical education and therefore it should be reflected in the training.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, there were growing pains in the United Statesmedical education. this resulted from the increase in the demand on the curricula time. The explosion of the knowledge was one of the impetus in biological medicine alongside other related sciences and there was a request for time in front of the medical students. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, there was an interest that was growing in an increased and increasing integration in the initial years of the medical school. Thi stroke a balance between the clinical application and basic sciences. He teaching methods started sifting to take into consideration the methods of education that relate the way in which people learn in relation to the way tutors deliver their content. The reforms of the curriculum in the United States specifically the one associated with Medical education have taken place for 10-12 years and it is likely to move one for more than five years. As this continues, it can be seen as an opportunity in our medical schools.

References

Drake, R. L. (2014). A retrospective and prospective look at medical education in the United States: Trends shaping anatomical sciences education. Journal of anatomy, 224(3), 256-260.

Frank, J., Chen, L., Bhutta, Z. A., Cohen, J., Crisp, N., Evans, T., ... & Kistnasamy, B. (2010). Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. The Lancet, 376(9756), 1923-1958.

Irby, D. M., Cooke, M., & O'brien, B. C. (2010). Calls for reform of medical education by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: 1910 and 2010. Academic Medicine, 85(2), 220-227.