Medical education
-
The construction of a new teaching course in geriatric medicine is described. Course objectives are established, and teaching arrangements designed to meet these objectives. ⋯ Particular features of the course include residential attachments in hospital departments of geriatric medicine and coordinated teaching with the departments of general practice and mental health. The attainments and methods of assessment are then discussed.
-
Pre-registration house officers who answered enquiries in 1973 and 1974 about career preferences were written to again in 1976. This yielded 205 comparisons, in which 134 (65.5%) doctors retained their original first choice of career, thirty-five (17%) opted for their previous second or third choice and thirty-six (17.5%) gave a completely new choice. The most common reasons for a change in career choice were reappraisal of aptitudes and abilities, altered domestic circumstances, additional knowledge of promotion and career prospects and additional experience of the new choice of career.
-
The performance of 209 students in the 2nd MBBS, first clinical year and final MBBS examinations has been compared retrospectively with their grades in chemistry, physics and biology at "A" level. The mean grade has also been determined for students from different social classes and secondary education. ⋯ The relative role of these three basic sciences in the medical course is discussed. The suggestion is made that there is a need for a re-appraisal of the privleged position of chemistry and an unquestioned science requirement for entry to medical school.