Medical education
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The medical specialties are being intensively reconsidered in the countries of Europe. The important need is for promoting improvement of educational training programmes. ⋯ Support for the educational process is essential, to a much greater extent than occurs at present, if standards are to be improved and the confidence of the public is to be retained. The EC medical education system is the only existing international structure in medical education which is controlled by law, and is on that basis alone of the greatest interest.
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This paper reviews the literature on career choice to investigate the undergraduate influences on the preference of Australian graduates for a career in general practice. Although isolation of influencing factors is difficult, admission criteria and undergraduate curricula may influence career preference. As the institutional environment of medical schools is weighted towards scientific research and specialized medicine, medical students may be socialized into choosing non-generalist careers. Medical schools should consider broadening selection criteria and curriculum exposure to produce graduates with a broad range of career interests.
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Medicine endorses a code of ethics and encourages a high moral character among doctors. This study examines the influence of medical education on the moral reasoning and development of medical students. Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview was given to a sample of 20 medical students (41.7% of students in that class). ⋯ With a range of moral reasoning scores between 315 and 482, the finding of a mean increase from first year to fourth year of 18.5 points was not statistically significant at the P < or = 0.05 level. Statistical analysis revealed no significant correlations at the P < or = 0.05 level between the moral reasoning scores and age, gender, Medical College Admission Test scores, or grade point average scores. Along with a brief description of Kohlberg's cognitive moral development theory, some interpretations and explanations are given for the findings of the study.
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The timing and stability of the decision to enter a medical specialty were examined for one class of medical students. Students were asked to predict specialty choices for themselves on six occasions from orientation day in year 1 to January of the senior year. ⋯ Specialty choices are made early, and are more stable and accurate than the previous literature has suggested. Variations in timing among the specialties are described, and implications for medical education are discussed.