Medical Education Reform Efforts and Failures of U.S. Medical Schools, 1870-1930

In the late nineteenth century, the American system of medical education underwent a complete transformation. Medical colleges shifted from commercial schools where instruction was based almost exclusively on classroom lectures to university-affiliated programs providing hands-on training in both laboratory and clinical work. Medical educators recognized that successfully enacting the new pedagogy required new buildings. By the 1930s, almost every medical college in the United States had rebuilt or significantly renovated its facilities. In Creating the Modern Physician: The Architecture of American Medical Schools in the Era of Medical Education Reform, Katherine L. Carroll analyzes the first wave of schools constructed to house the new medical training. She examines the three dominant types of American medical school buildings, which she argues did more than supply spaces for teaching and research—they defined specific conceptions of modern medicine and helped to shape the modern physician.

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Innovations in medical education in Vietnam

BMJ Innovations ◽

10.1136/bmjinnov-2021-000708 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. s23-s29

Author(s):

David B Duong ◽

Tom Phan ◽

Nguyen Quang Trung ◽

Bao Ngoc Le ◽

Hoa Mai Do ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Education Reform ◽

Low Income ◽

Professional Education ◽

Education Policies ◽

Enabling Factors ◽

Middle Income ◽

Medical Graduates ◽

Medical Education Reform ◽

Crucial Component

Medical education reforms are a crucial component to ensuring healthcare systems can meet current and future population needs. In 2010, a Lancet commission called for ‘a new century of transformative health professional education’, with a particular focus on the needs of low-income and-middle-income countries (LMICs), such as Vietnam. This requires policymakers and educational leaders to find and apply novel and innovative approaches to the design and delivery of medical education. This review describes the current state of physician training in Vietnam and how innovations in medical education curriculum, pedagogy and technology are helping to transform medical education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It also examines enabling factors, including novel partnerships and new education policies which catalysed and sustained these innovations. Our review focused on the experience of five public universities of medicine and pharmacy currently undergoing medical education reform, along with a newly established private university. Research in the area of medical education innovation is needed. Future work should look at the outcomes of these innovations on medical education and the quality of medical graduates. Nonetheless, this review aims to inspire future innovations in medical education in Vietnam and in other LMICs.

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