The McMaster M.D. program: a case study of renewal in medical education.
This paper presents four aspects of health professions education at McMaster University: (1) a review of the key elements of the history and distinctive approach of the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program; (2) a description of the process and substance of curriculum change over the past decade, focusing on a major revision of the M.D. program that began in 1983; (3) a summary of the findings of follow-up studies of McMaster M.D. program graduates; and (4) an analysis of the current context within which the Faculty of Health Sciences (of which the M.D. program is a part) is operating and a description of strategies for renewal that are being implemented. The evidence and experience to date support the assertion that satisfactory--and in some ways special--physicians can be prepared using the "McMaster approach" to medical education, but that continuous review and periodic major revisions of the educational program are both necessary and possible; they must occur in concert with developments in other sectors of Faculty of Health Sciences activities.
Neufeld
V R
VR
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Woodward
C A
CA
MacLeod
S M
SM
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006040:Goals; D009864:Ontario; D012570:School Admission Criteria