4 ms·

This is a fantastic idea. It's interesting that they are starting by making it available to people going into primary care, though, for which the final two year

This is a fantastic idea. It's interesting that they are starting by making it available to people going into primary care, though, for which the final two years will be most useful. My specialist physician friends say that they basically restarted their training in residency. In particular, I have pathologist friends who say they almost never use knowledge from their clinical rotations in medical school, and might as well just not have done them.

Evbn 14y ago
Of course, the same can be said for at least two years of pre-medschool time in college.
jseliger 14y ago
>This is a fantastic idea. True, but the really radical shift would come from another direction, as I wrote in a separate comment: It would also be a good idea to move toward a more European-style system that creates an alternate path to the M.D. by making the first two years of med school equivalent to an undergrad major. So a student at, say, the University of Washington could do their first two years of med school from 20 – 22, their second two from 22 – 24, and a three-year residency afterwards, leaving them with less debt (because they'd pay undergrad tuition) and with a faster path to an actual career. This sort of thing is hugely important to me because I wrote an essay called "Why you should become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a doctor: the underrated perils of medical school" (http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-nurse-or-physicians-assistant-instead-of-a-doctor-the-underrated-perils-of-medical-school/ http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-beco...) which explains what numerous med students, residents, and doctors say they wish someone had told them.