Washington, D.C., August 9, 2004 - Medical education in the U.S. must undergo significant change to better prepare physicians for the nation's rapidly evolving health care needs, according to a new report by a deans' panel convened by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "Educating Doctors to Provide High Quality Medical Care," identifies opportunities for improving the three phases of physician education -medical school, residency training, and continuing medical education.

The report was the result of a yearlong comprehensive review by an ad hoc committee of 10 medical school deans from around the country. The committee was created by the AAMC to help set the action agenda for the association's Institute for Improving Medical Education (IIME). The IIME's primary purpose is to foster innovations in every stage of medical education.

"Rapid changes in medicine and health care require fundamental changes in medical education," said AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. "With this report, the AAMC is prepared to lead the charge to improve physician education and training and ensure that the nation maintains its high quality health care and highly skilled physician workforce for decades to come."

While the deans' report acknowledges the successes that American medical education has enjoyed, it agrees with national organizations, such as the Institute of Medicine and The Commonwealth Fund, that substantial changes are needed to better prepare the nation's future physician workforce. The panel cites three areas in medical education that should be addressed:

• The need to modernize the content and structure of clinical clerkships for medical students to create a better balance among in-patient, ambulatory, and community based experiences
• The need to provide young doctors with more opportunities during residency training to care for chronically ill patients - patients they are more likely to encounter in their future practices
• The need to shift continuing medical education programs toward formats that broaden and improve the specific skills and knowledge physicians need to better serve patients in their clinical practices.

Recognizing that changes to the current medical education system cannot be made immediately, the panel recommended the following short-term strategies for improving medical education:

• Medical schools and teaching hospitals should:
  a) Present patient-centered clinical experiences to entering medical students early on
  b) Develop and support faculty whose main responsibility is the education of students
  c) Establish rigorous assessment programs to ensure that students and residents acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to provide superior patient care
  d) Create and conduct continuing medical education programs that effectively improve how physicians practice medicine.

• Accrediting bodies and specialty boards should:
  a) Make sure that medical educators document what students have learned in undergraduate and graduate programs
  b) Grant certification only to individuals who have successfully demonstrated clinical competence in their chosen specialty.

The report also suggests that schools, residency programs and accrediting bodies consider providing opportunities for residency requirements to be integrated into the medical school curriculum.

In order to translate the deans' recommendations into action, Michael Whitcomb, M.D., AAMC's senior vice president for medical education and director of the Institute for Improving Medical Education, will work with an external advisory committee in the coming months to map out an agenda for the institute. Michael Johns, M.D., executive vice president for health affairs at the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University and former dean of medicine at Johns Hopkins, will chair the committee. The committee's members will include individuals from all three phases of the medical education system.

Get the complete report.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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