The discourse of generational segmentation and the implications for postgraduate medical education

Abstract

The growing demands for easily accessible, cost effective and efficient health care services are hindering many medical training programs in delivering well prepared physicians, equipped with the competencies to tackle new and complex health care problems. In addition to this, many medical institutions are finding it difficult to design curricula that would prepare today’s physicians adequately for the ongoing changes in health care. Targeted customer service is a growing phenomenon in health care, where healthcare institutions are operating as retail service providers, design experiences and deliver care around the convenience of consumers rather than the preferences of providers. Gradually finding its way into medical education, this concept entails investing in understanding the beliefs and values of consumers as a result of their different expectations and differences. Defined by the experiences that create common values among the members of a specific group, the discourse of generation segmentation has proven to be a helpful way of understanding consumer differences. There are four known generations currently impacting the pattern and distribution of healthcare services and in the coming decade, the future of medical education In this paper, medical education is re-examined in the light of this phenomenon of generation segmentation and whether today’s physicians are being effectively prepared to practice in a fast changing world. The analysis provided in this paper presents a recommendation for the medical curriculum of a new millennium based on the changing needs and expectations of different generations of consumers.