Changing medical education

Lakehead University is already using the recommendations found in a report released Thursday to improve medical education.

The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada released a report detailing 10 recommendations for improving medical schools across the country. The report took input from various health-care professionals, consumers and educators.

Joel Lanphear, senior associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education with Northern Ontario School of Medicine, said it was a great day for the school to know the report reaffirms what they have been trying to do.

Lanphear said the report focuses on social accountability and learning in a community setting; something NOSM has been doing for years.

The first recommendation urges physicians and faculty to address the individual and community needs. That means that Thunder Bay physicians should focus on the unique issues within this city before examining national and provincial trends.

The report also highlights the importance of teamwork development among students and faculty.

"Interprogessionalism and inaugurated learning around improved patient care is the future of medicine," he said.

Northern Ontario School of Medicine and 36 other sites across Canada took part in a teleconference that covered the essential points of the report.

Gordon Porter, vice-president of medical academic affairs with the Regional Health Science Centre, came to the teleconference to get an education on where medical education is going. Porter said he read the executive summary and was excited by what he saw.

"Based on these recommendations we’re already on eight of them," Porter said. "The recommendations are already apart of the curriculum at NOSM and they are already apart of a lot of elements for improvement at the hospital based on our education standards. That’s what really excites me."

As Canada moves toward an improved medical educational standard, Thunder Bay is positioned to go forward, he said. Students who attended NOSM have become more diversified because of the emphasis on community engagement, he said.

The release of the report falls on the anniversary of another report conducted a century ago. Abraham Flexner, an America educator, reported how medical education needed to change.

During Flexner’s time, physicians who wanted to be doctors would take apprenticeships. The report called for more scientific basis for teaching medicine.