One of the worries about medical students is that they are not well connected to the real world. The come mostly from privileged backgrounds, enter the monastery of the medical school at 18, and spend the next 10 years focusing on passing exams and learning basic clinical skills. It’s not surprising that many come to […]
“See one, do one, teach one?” Gone are the days when medical students did what they were told, learnt what was on the syllabus, and spoke when spoken to. “See one, do one, teach one?” Not a chance. Instead, they conscientiously object. […]
I’ve recently read with great interest the “for” and “against” debate in BMJ Careers on whether doctors should have a guaranteed job upon qualifying from medical school. It sounds reasonable that medical schools train the number of future doctors that is adequate to the needs of the population and that replaces the doctors that retire every […]
One of the top five reasons given by medical students for not regularly attending meetings is “discouraged to attend by department and university,” a survey by the American Association of the History of Medicine, an academic society devoted to the history of medicine and all aspects of health, has found. This finding resonates with me […]
The procedures of admissions to medical school are extremely varied around the world. Yet they seem to have one thing in common – success is considered a huge deal. At the next family reunion, you are bound to have enchanted relatives patting you on the back, dropping comments about how you make them proud. Are […]
Recently I met a student who had been in a Problem Based Learning (PBL) group that I had ‘facilitated’ in 2006. During the PBL we will have spent around six hours together each week for a full trimester (so around 72 hours contact time in all) and I was interested to know if he could […]
The recent research study published in the BMJ entitled “Ethnic stereotypes and the underachievement of UK medical students from ethnic minorities: qualitative study” discussed the underperformance of (presumably South) Asian medical students. It suggested that stereotypes of Asian students may damage their relationships with clinical teachers, resulting in their relatively poor performance in exams. […]