A Rational Public Policy for Medical Education and Its Financing.

Overview & Synopsis

During the past 5 years, the National Fund for Medical Education has viewed with concern the deepening crisis in medical education. The purpose of this book is to inform people of the need for a change in policy that the crisis might be alleviated. Chapter 1 deals with public policy and medical education and includes a history of the role of the public in changing the system. Chapter 2 explores the quantitative dimensions of medical education regarding education, research, and patient care. Chapter 3 defines the purpose of medical education with expositions on medical cure and health care, successes and failures in the worlds of medical cure and health care, the role of research, and the numerical need for physicians. Chapter 4 deals with the process of medical education with sections on classical medical education, the impact of admission procedures, the output of medical education, the beginnings of change, and the changes measured against objectives. Chapter 5 discusses the mechanism of medical education including the medical center role, the discontinuity of graduate education, and the factor of faculty to student ratio. Chapter 6 then proposes a rational public policy for medical education and chapter 7 proposes a policy for financing it. Finally chapter 8 deals with the priorities for action. (HS)