Clinical and investigative medicine. Médecine clinique et experimentale
-
Review Historical Article
The challenge for basic science education in problem-based medical curricula.
There has been intense debate about medical curriculum reform since the early 1950s. The last 25 years have seen a steady shift ward problem-based learning curriculum design in schools of medicine and allied health sciences. This trend has been less challenging for clinical departments than for departments of basic science, where it has often evoked anxiety, antipathy, lack of cooperation, and general mistrust. ⋯ The process of change in medical education initiated by Abraham Flexner early in this century remains incomplete. One reason why curricular changes have proved frustrating to basic scientists is that much of clinical medicine remains unnecessarily unscientific. Until clinical medicine itself changes, the utility of science in the training of a physician will remain difficult to demonstrate.