Medical education and market forces!!

Current health care delivery and finance systems are threatening medical education. Monitorization of the health care system and medical education has stimulated increased competition for fiscal resources. Medical education costs money while clinical care and research generate income.2 Investments in research and privatization of health care have relegated teaching of medical students to a secondary activity.3 The frustration levels among faculty who joined universities to teach medical students and be part of an environment that valued the learning process are rising. Faculty is being hired primarily for their research productivity or for their ability to deliver patient care services. Additionally, teachers of medical students rarely receive formal training in teaching, education, or assessment of learners. Most faculty who
teach are unaware of the literature on cognitive psychology, adult learning and the development of mastery and expertise. New faculty relies on imitation, trial and error, osmosis, and luck for obtaining educational skills. The rewards and recognition for research and patient care are substantive (financial) while those for teaching and education are much fewer. It must be realized that teaching medical students is central to the mission of medical schools.1 It is education that distinguishes a medical school from a research institute, clinic, or hospital.