Trend spotting: fashions in medical education

This article explores the nature of fashions in medical education and identifies some of the questions about medical education that such fashions raise. What constitutes a fashion in a professional or academic discipline? What do such “fashions” contribute, both positively and negatively, to the development of medical education? What steps can practitioners and academics in medical education take to change a trend into an important step forward in the development of a discipline?

We define a fashion in medical education as an approach to education that is based primarily on social influences, in contrast to approaches based on established educational principles and theories, critically evaluated experiences, or the results of valid research. An analogy is the distinction between fashion in clothes (colour and style) and the quality and functionality of clothing (material and comfort). We chose multiprofessional learning and multimedia computer aided learning as case studies, and we illustrate why each should currently be characterised as a fashion rather than informed practice. Both have received attention internationally in medical curriculum reform. 1 2