Current Changes in Medical Education

In the 21s,century major changes and reforms are affecting the context of medical education in all of its three phases: undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education. The new phenomena influencing the forms and content of medical education are first and foremost globalisation, the information explosion especially in the area of biomedicine, the dramatic development of communication and information technologies and changes in the system of healthcare provision. Attention has been focused on creation of international minimal global standards of medical education leading to an integrated curriculum based on the needs of health care. Changes in the content and structure of medical education content and structure have brought with them a need for a broad spectrum of approaches and strategies in teaching, e.g. problem-based learning, outcome-based learning, evidence-based medicine, simulation, etc. Modern communication and information technologies have been changing the patterns of learning and teaching from the hitherto prevailing traditional lecture in a lecture room to interactive methods of learning and teaching, on-line or distance learning courses, teaching simulators and virtual universities. New directions can also be identified in the area of assessment of medical education outcomes, which are now geared not only to evaluating the isolated knowledge and skills of students and physicians, but also to the assessment of clinical competence. Great attention should be devoted to the preparation of competent medical teachers whose roles have changed radically in the whole process.