Do tomorrow's doctors really know no anatomy?

When he realised that I was from one of the new problem based learning schools, the consultant took one look at me and said, “So I take it you know no anatomy, then?”

Undergraduate medical training has undergone revolutionary changes since the General Medical Council indicated the need for less factual knowledge. “Factual information must be kept to the essential minimum that students need at this stage of medical education.”1 Why should students have to learn every step in the glucose metabolic pathway, when in terms of patient management it is not required?2 In an attempt to follow this advice, several medical schools have adopted a problem based learning approach, but many people think that students from these schools have much less knowledge of anatomy compared to students who are studying for traditional medical degrees. Problem based learning, however, has been shown to be an effective method of integrating basic and applied sciences from a very early stage in the course. What do students think about this type of learning and how does the integration of basic and clinical sciences benefit them?

Imagine you're a first year, you've just arrived at a new medical school, you're sitting around a table with eight other students, and you're supposed to be making an attempt at your first ever problem based learning session. There's one little difficulty, however—it's everyone else's first time as well so nobody knows what's going on.