Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: a triumph of evangelism over common sense

BMJ 2004;329:92-94 (10 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7457.92
Gareth Williams, Alice Lau

Summary points
1. Traditional medical training produces doctors with a sound knowledge base that allows them to practise across a broad spectrum of medicine
2. Reformers aim to cut the student's factual knowledge base, while replacing traditional teaching methods with student led and problem based approaches
3. There is no evidence that the "new" strategies will produce better doctors, and a risk that students with inadequate knowledge will become poor clinicians
4. A rigorous comparison of "traditional" versus "new" curriculums is urgently needed to determine the best strategy for training doctors

Comments
- Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: Evidence base for problem based learning is growing
Jill MorrisonBMJ 2004 329: 798-799. [Letter]
- Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: Unfunded reform always ends in reaction
Julian T HartBMJ 2004 329: 799. [Letter]
- Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: Students are too many to be assessed individually in general hospitals
Charles FoxBMJ 2004 329: 799. [Letter]
- Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: "Problem based learning" v "traditional" is a false debate
Joshua D R PayneBMJ 2004 329: 799. [Letter]
- Reform of undergraduate medical teaching in the United Kingdom: Evangelism triumphs over common sense for ophthalmology
Michael P ClarkeBMJ 2004 329: 799-800. [Letter]