Should all medical students be graduates first? Yes

doi:10.1136/bmj.39283.476725.BE

BMJ 2007;335:1072 (24 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39283.476725.BE

Feature

Head to head

Should all medical students be graduates first? Yes

Ed Peile, professor of medical education

Institute of Clinical Education, Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL

ed.peile@warwick.ac.uk

Most people enter medical college straight from school. Ed Peileargues that changing to a single system of graduate entry medicalschools would provide the diverse multiskilled workforce neededfor the future, but Charles George thinks that there is insufficientevidence to make this a criterion of entry

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

We must stop the headlong rush of pupils going straight fromschool into five year long medical courses. Bright teenagersare encouraged by teachers and parents to maximise their potentialby aiming for the kudos and earning power of medicine. As consultantsin their 20s, they will have little more breadth to their lifeexperience than when they were studying during the week andspending their weekends meeting the unwritten requirements forschool leavers to get into medical school—by working incare homes, hiking for the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards, andpractising for grade VIII cello.

If we do what we have always done, we will always get a nichemedical workforce. Selection is a different matter when studentshave had a chance to prove themselves independently, meetingthe challenges of a university setting, and perhaps those ofthe workplace.

Diversity of the medical workforce has been hampered for . . . [Full text of this article]

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