Clinical Medicine or General Medicine (aka Family Medicine in
the US these days) was the originator of all the sub-specialties that we
see in our MBBS curriculum today beginning with Anatomy, Physiology,
Pathology, Pharmacology as well as all the other clinical subjects.
If we historically trace how 'Medical Learning' evolved we can only find the patient with his/her clinical symptoms leading the way for our founding fathers of medical education who were perhaps compassionate physicians supporting the patient through their listening skills as well as waiting for them patiently to die after which they could dissect their bodies to get into the bottom of their pathologies. I guess Anatomy and Pathology were two specialties that historically came soon after Medicine and the rest took more time to evolve into their present formats.
In the current age this natural process of 'discovery based learning' that our founding fathers enjoyed has been adequately 'disrupted' by technology that allows us to immediately look into the anatomy and pathology of our patients without inappropriate waiting times.Naturally our current clinical world is a chaotic and complex mix that demands fresh solutions and out of the box thinking from our current and future generations of health professionals. This again is more of an opportunity than a challenge?
Apparently in the initial curriculum design of Indian Medical education (pre Medical council of India MCI days let us say 50-70 years back) the designers seem to have thought it preferable to let all MBBS (aka MD in US) students be trained first and foremost as physicians and then let them branch into specialties so that they can adequately handle and support all patients who come to them before they refer to another (same probably goes historically for medical education designers across the globe).
Our current specialty based approach where specialists (in Anatomy,Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology as well as all the other clinical subjects etc) lead the way as faculty doesn't seem to be helping the ability of our students to handle and support all patients who come to them before they refer to another?
The question is: Will following the 'discovery based learning' route where
medical students and faculty (who may take pride in being labeled as general physicians rather than or also as specialists)
learn together
help to revamp the current Indian medical education system?
If we historically trace how 'Medical Learning' evolved we can only find the patient with his/her clinical symptoms leading the way for our founding fathers of medical education who were perhaps compassionate physicians supporting the patient through their listening skills as well as waiting for them patiently to die after which they could dissect their bodies to get into the bottom of their pathologies. I guess Anatomy and Pathology were two specialties that historically came soon after Medicine and the rest took more time to evolve into their present formats.
In the current age this natural process of 'discovery based learning' that our founding fathers enjoyed has been adequately 'disrupted' by technology that allows us to immediately look into the anatomy and pathology of our patients without inappropriate waiting times.Naturally our current clinical world is a chaotic and complex mix that demands fresh solutions and out of the box thinking from our current and future generations of health professionals. This again is more of an opportunity than a challenge?
Apparently in the initial curriculum design of Indian Medical education (pre Medical council of India MCI days let us say 50-70 years back) the designers seem to have thought it preferable to let all MBBS (aka MD in US) students be trained first and foremost as physicians and then let them branch into specialties so that they can adequately handle and support all patients who come to them before they refer to another (same probably goes historically for medical education designers across the globe).
Our current specialty based approach where specialists (in Anatomy,Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology as well as all the other clinical subjects etc) lead the way as faculty doesn't seem to be helping the ability of our students to handle and support all patients who come to them before they refer to another?
The question is: Will following the 'discovery based learning' route where
medical students and faculty (who may take pride in being labeled as general physicians rather than or also as specialists)
learn together
help to revamp the current Indian medical education system?
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