Disconnections between medical education and medical practice: A neglected dilemma

Abstract

Medical practice has changed profoundly over the past 60 years. Many changes have also been made in medical education, often with a view to countering adverse aspects of highly specialised, commercialised and bureaucratised modern medical practice. Regardless of the state of the world today and of the variety of changes that may occur in the years ahead, excellence in the application of bedside skills and technological advances, accompanied by excellence in humanistic aspects of caring for patients as people, will remain preeminent goals at the heart of medical practice. Powerful social forces that negatively influence practice cannot be counteracted through changes in medical education alone and need to be addressed directly within health systems. Shifting healthcare towards a valued social service is arguably essential for improving both public and individual health through more widespread universal access to high quality and effectively integrated health care. ARTICLE HISTORY

Risk Reduction of COVID-19 Pandemic in Pakistan

“…It is pertinent here to mention that this outbreak results in multiple problems including fear and death at a large level (Hussain et al, 2020). Similarly, it affects all social institutions such as the economy (Alradhawi, Shubber, Sheppard, & Ali, 2020;Buheji et al, 2020), education (Benatar & Daneman, 2020), health (Coetzee & Kagee, 2020;Driggin et al, 2020;Fang & Meng, 2020;Mansfield, 2020;Romano et al, 2020), religion, family (Ghosh, Dubey, Chatterjee, & Dubey, 2020;Imran, Zeshan, & Pervaiz, 2020), media (Cinelli et al, 2020;Depoux et al, 2020;McCauley, Minsky, & Viswanath, 2013), recreation (Begović, 2020;Brouder et al, 2020;Davies, 2020;Parnell, Widdop, Bond, & Wilson, 2020) and politics as well. Furthermore, business is stopped and educational institutions are also closed.…”

Motivating change in resident language use through narrative medicine workshops

“…Often in medical training, there are “disconnections between the worlds of medical education and practice” whereby things learned in a didactic or ‘formal’ part of the curriculum are not applied at the bedside [ 27 ]. In our interviews, however, residents recalled how what they learned in the sessions came to mind when they were caring for patients at the bedside.…”

Addressing Challenges in Humanistic Communication During COVID-19 Through Medical Education

“…The earlier humanism is introduced in a person's medical career, such as medical school and residency, the more natural, habitual, and automatic its implementation will be in physicians. High quality medical care lies in providing both clinical skills and representing humanistic ideals (Benatar and Daneman, 2020). Though unexpected, the pandemic brought about changes in humanism and these proposed curriculum additions for undergraduate medical education for students, graduate medical education for residents, and even continuing medical education for practicing physicians that will benefit patients forever (Sonis et al, 2020).…”

“…Challenges and pressures led physicians to diminish humanistic practices to compensate for the amount of time required for additional responsibilities (Cohen and Sherif, 2014). It took a worldwide pandemic to remind healthcare workers of the necessity of humanism and professionalism through the "nature of suffering and the fragility of life" (Benatar and Daneman, 2020).…”

“…The pandemic revealed the need for interpersonal skills for the healing process and positive patient outcomes. As students, residents, and physicians begin to embrace humanism in practice, the future of health care will greatly improve (Benatar and Daneman, 2020). This paper offers three shortterm strategies to include in medical education to encourage humanism in medical practice during the pandemic: effective physician-patient communication, telemedicine, and empathetic techniques.…”