Medical education in Israel 2016: five medical schools in a period of transition.
We reviewed the existing programs for basic medical education (BME) in Israel as well as their output, since they are in a phase of reassessment and transition. The transition has been informed, in part, by evaluation in 2014 by an International Review Committee (IRC). The review is followed by an analysis of its implications as well as the emergent roadmap for the future. The review documents a trend of modernizing, humanizing, and professionalizing Israeli medical education in general, and BME in particular, independently in each of the medical schools. Suggested improvements include an increased emphasis on interactive learner-centered rather than frontal teaching formats, clinical simulation, interprofessional training, and establishment of a national medical training forum for faculty development. In addition, collaboration should be enhanced between medical educators and health care providers, and among the medical schools themselves. The five schools admitted about 730 Israeli students in 2015, doubling admissions from 2000. In 2014, the number of new licenses, including those awarded to Israeli international medical graduates (IMGs), surpassed for the first time in more than a decade the estimated need for 1100 new physicians annually. About 60 % of the licenses awarded in 2015 were to IMGs.



Israeli BME is undergoing continuous positive changes, was supplied with a roadmap for even further improvement by the IRC, and has doubled its output of graduates. The numbers of both Israeli graduates and IMGs are higher than estimated previously and may address the historically projected physician shortage. However, it is not clear whether the majority of newly licensed physicians, who were trained abroad, have benefited from similar recent improvements in medical education similar to those benefiting graduates of the Israeli medical schools, nor is it certain that they will benefit from the further improvements that have recently been recommended for the Israeli medical schools. Inspired by the IRC report, this overview of programs and the updated physician manpower data, we hope the synergy between all stakeholders is enhanced to address the combined medical education quality enhancement and output challenge.
Faculty Development Unit, Bar Ilan University Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Henrietta Szold 8 St, Safed, 13100 Israel.|The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.
Shmuel
0000-0001-7366-6952
S
Reis
Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Jacob
J
Urkin
Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion, Haifa, Israel.
Rachel
R
Nave
Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion, Haifa, Israel.
Rosalie
R
Ber
Sheba Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Amitai
A
Ziv
Sheba Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Orit
O
Karnieli-Miller
Sheba Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Dafna
D
Meitar
Faculty Development Unit, Bar Ilan University Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, Henrietta Szold 8 St, Safed, 13100 Israel.
Peter
P
Gilbey
The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.
Dror
D
Mevorach
Basic Medical Education; Israel; Medical Education Reform; Medical Manpower
Acad Med. 1997 Aug;72(8):661
9282135
Med Educ. 2008 Oct;42(10):991-8
18823518
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2014 May 27;3:17
24904745
Harefuah. 2010 Mar;149(3):170-2, 194, 193
20684169
Acad Med. 2014 Nov;89(11):1558-62
25250743
Acad Med. 2009 Nov;84(11):1582-94
19858822
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2014 Jul 22;3:26
25075274
Harefuah. 1995 Aug;129(3-4):87-90, 160, 159
8543247
Harefuah. 2010 Apr;149(4):232-6, 262
20812496
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2015 Oct 01;4:37
26430508
Med Teach. 2016 Nov;38(11):1172-1179
27249334
Med Teach. 2009 Nov;31(11):984-9
19909037
Med Teach. 2003 Mar;25(2):171-6
12745526
Harefuah. 2013 May;152(5):257-61, 310
23885447
J Urban Health. 1999 Sep;76(3):371-4
12607902
Health Policy. 2010 Sep;97(1):38-43
20399526
Health Policy. 2016 Aug;120(8):920-7
27496154