The future of health professions education.

The need for a fit-for-purpose curriculum with a closer alignment of health professions education with society's needs was addressed at the International Conference on the Future of Health Professions Education held in Miami in November 2022. Issues discussed at the Conference were equity, competency-based education, technology enhanced learning, interprofessional education, lifelong learning, international collaborations, and the changing role of students.

Managing the tension: From innovation to application in health professions education.

Innovations in education are essential for solving problems and introducing new ways of thinking. However, implementation of these innovations must take several factors into consideration, including the context, the environment, the stakeholders, the technology needed, the cost, the pace of implementation, appropriateness, and available resources. When these factors are not balanced and considered, tensions arise. This paper describes tensions in five major educational domains, namely curriculum, instruction, assessment, accreditation/regulation, and faculty development. For each of these domains, the typical problems are described, and solutions are presented to manage the tension.

Ten key features of the future medical school-not an impossible dream.

Significant developments in medical education are necessary if medical schools are to respond to the pressures from advances in medicine, changes in health care delivery, and patient and public expectations. This article describes 10 key features of the medical school of the future: the move from the ivory tower to the real world, from just-in-case learning to just-in-time learning, from the basic science clinical divide to full integration, from undervalued teaching and the teacher to recognition of their importance, from the student as a client to the student as partner, from a mystery tour to a mapped journey, from standard uniform practice to an adaptive curriculum, from a failure to exploit learning technology to its effective and creative use, from assessment of learning to assessment for learning, and from working in isolation to greater collaboration. A move in the directions specified is necessary and possible. With some of the changes proposed already happening, it is not an impossible dream.

Forty years of medical education through the eyes of Medical Teacher: From chrysalis to butterfly.

To mark the 40th Anniversary of Medical Teacher, issues this year will document changes in medical education that have taken place over the past 40 years in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education with regard to curriculum themes and approaches, teaching and learning methods, assessment techniques and management issues. Trends such as adaptive learning will be highlighted and one issue will look at the medical school of the future. An analysis of papers published in the journal has identified four general trends in medical education - increased collaboration, greater international interest, student engagement with the education process and a move to a more evidence-informed approach to medical education. These changes over the years have been dramatic.

Be FAIR to students: four principles that lead to more effective learning.

A teacher is a professional not a technician. An understanding of some basic principles about learning can inform the teacher or trainer in their day-to-day practice as a teacher or a trainer. The FAIR principles are: provide feedback to the student, engage the student in active learning, individualise the learning to the personal needs of the student and make the learning relevant. Application of the principles can lead to more effective learning - the poor teacher can become a good teacher and the good teacher an excellent teacher.

A fresh approach to publishing and reviewing papers in health professions education.

MedEdPublish has been launched as a repository of ideas and an e-library for papers relating to education in the health professions that have not previously been published. In line with the move to open access publication, the e-library provides an easy-to-search, open access resource that addresses both a mismatch between papers meriting publication and the space available in established journals, and problems with the traditional approach to peer reviewing by an editorial board and two or three selected reviewers. It is argued that with advances in technology, the time is right to look at a fresh approach to quality control that involves the wider education community.

Looking back to the future: a message for a new generation of medical educators.

OBJECTIVE: Many changes in medical education have occurred during the author's 50-year career in the field. The aim of this paper is to describe 10 lessons worth recording for others engaged in the training of health care professionals. THREE CAREER PHASES: The first phase in the author's career occurred during 1960-1972 in Glasgow, where an interest in medical education developed alongside an engagement in clinical medicine and research into iodine metabolism. The second phase took place during 1972-2002 in Dundee, where, after working for a period as a clinician, the author made a full-time commitment to medical education. The third phase, from 2002 to the present, has provided the opportunity to explore new horizons in medical education. CONCLUSIONS: The following lessons have been learned. (i) People are important as role models and collaborators. (ii) Innovation in medical education is a complex process and research findings can easily be misinterpreted. (iii) Nudges, interventions that encourage rather than mandate change, are valuable. (iv) Students are important players in planning, delivering and evaluating a curriculum. Each student has different needs and aspirations. They are the 'digital natives'. (v) Offer stakeholders practical solutions to problems that can be implemented. (vi) There is always something to learn outside one's own practice. Go to a conference or read a journal in a related field. (vii) Time spent recording one's work and publishing reports based on it is rewarding. (viii) Learn from history. We don't need to keep reinventing the wheel. (ix) Obtain independent funding. (x) Finally, and most importantly, have fun. Working in medical education can be exciting, fulfilling and hugely enjoyable.

The Bologna Process - A global vision for the future of medical education.

What has become known as the Bologna Process has evolved over a series of ministerial conferences with the last meeting in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve in 2009. There has been a move towards recognition of the benefits to be gained from greater transparency, a general recognition of degrees across Europe, cooperation with regard to quality assurance, an emphasis on more flexible learning paths and lifelong learning, and the promotion of mobility. This paper highlights the ambitious objectives underpinning the Bologna Declaration and Process and the developments since the 1999 Declaration and the current position in particular with regard to medicine. The paper describes common myths and misunderstandings about the Process relating to the two cycle model, the progress of students after the first cycle and the concept of harmonisation rather than uniformity. It is argued that the Bologna Process can serve as a catalyst for the necessary change in medical education. With careful management and imaginative implementation and the necessary vision, creativity and enthusiasm, any problems can be circumnavigated and rich rewards achieved. The Bologna Process is constantly evolving and its dynamic nature is one of its strengths. Medicine has much to contribute and should be part of this Process.

Competency-based medical education: implications for undergraduate programs.

Changes in educational thinking and in medical program accreditation provide an opportunity to reconsider approaches to undergraduate medical education. Current developments in competency-based medical education (CBME), in particular, present both possibilities and challenges for undergraduate programs. CBME does not specify particular learning strategies or formats, but rather provides a clear description of intended outcomes. This approach has the potential to yield authentic curricula for medical practice and to provide a seamless linkage between all stages of lifelong learning. At the same time, the implementation of CBME in undergraduate education poses challenges for curriculum design, student assessment practices, teacher preparation, and systemic institutional change, all of which have implications for student learning. Some of the challenges of CBME are similar to those that can arise in the implementation of any integrated program, while others are specific to the adoption of outcome frameworks as an organizing principle for curriculum design. This article reviews a number of issues raised by CBME in the context of undergraduate programs and provides examples of best practices that might help to address these issues.