Medical education

Abstract

Medical education should be a continuum across any doctor's professional life, from first entry into medical school until the last continuing medical education credit is gained. While there are several distinct phases in any one doctor's programme there are many similarities in the curriculum, teaching, assessment and evaluation across these periods of individual training. This chapter discusses medical education from the perspectives of medical students, prevocational trainees, vocational trainees and continuing medical education. The section on medical student teaching is the most detailed as it introduces material discussed again briefly in later sections. Selection of medical students is considered along with curriculum, teaching, assessment, evaluation, student support and medical education research in the first section. Later sections deal with specific aspects of prevocational, vocational and continuing medical education. In all sections the important role of doctors in medical education is stressed.