Health care has become increasingly complex and faces huge challenges in providing quality care to diverse populations.
To provide that care many experts are championing a new vision for medical education in Canada, including at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
Carol Herbert
With the collaboration of Canada’s 17 faculties of medicine, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) have launched a report: The Future of Medical Education in Canada (FMEC): A Collective Vision for MD Education.
The 54-page document lays out recommendations geared to providing universities and colleges the tools to ensure their graduates have the skills to adapt to the future of the medical education system.
Schulich Dean Carol Herbert calls the document a “landmark report” for post-secondary medical education.
“The intent is to build on excellence, and also on the vision for social responsibility the 17 Canadian medical schools embraced nearly a decade ago,” says Herbert, who took part in a cross-country, 36-site videoconference last week to discuss the report.
The 10 recommendations, unanimously approved by the AFMC Board of Directors – which includes all of Canada’s deans of medicine and four public members – include:
• Address individual and community needs;
• Enhance admissions processes;
•
Build on the scientific basis of medicine;
• Promote prevention and public health;
• Address the hidden curriculum;
• Diversify learning contexts;
• Value generalism;
• Advance inter- and intra-professional practice;
• Adopt a competency-based and flexible approach; and
• Foster medical leadership.
These are accompanied by five enabling recommendations that will facilitate the implementation of the FMEC recommendations:
• Realign accreditation standards;
•
Build capacity for change;
• Increase national collaboration;
• Improve the use of technology; and
• Enhance faculty development.
Herbert says Schulich has developed models of distributed medical education to ensure diverse learning environments, as well as admission policies that increased representation from minority populations and populations with particular health burdens.
“But we still must concern ourselves with whether access is limited for some Canadians because of the high cost of medical school tuition,” says Herbert. “Once a learner is admitted to Schulich, we have excellent scholarship support to offer, but we know that some individuals and families will recoil at the ‘sticker price’ and never even apply.”
While she admits the recommendations are not to create a “one-size fits all” solution, Herbert says they need to be principle-driven for each individual schools needs.
Some recommendations are already quite a ways along at Schulich, while others, such as competency-based education, will take some years to achieve.
Still, she anticipates some pilot experiments within the next year or two.
“All of the recommendations must be considered as complementary elements that will assist in the evolution of Canadian medical education and our school expects to be a leader,” says Herbert.
To read the FMEC recommendations, visit AFMC.
