scholarly journals The Impact of the Flexner Report on Sectarian Medical Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Clark

Alternative medicine was a common form of medical practice in the 19th century. Yet, by the mid-20th century, homeopathic and eclectic medical schools became nearly nonexistent. Many historians point to Abraham Flexner’s report Medical Education in the United States and Canada Bulletin Number Four, commonly referred to as the Flexner Report, as a key reason for the decline of homeopathic and eclectic medical schools. In his report, Flexner blatantly criticizes sectarian medical philosophy and discredits nearly all homeopathic and eclectic medical school. Although numerous historians have investigated how the Flexner report initiated governmental reforms of medical education which thereby contributed to the dissolution of numerous homeopathic and eclectic medical schools, the impact of the Flexner Report on the public perception of alternative medicine has been largely neglected.             This study examines newspaper articles published during that period and the records of alternative medical schools to provide insight into how the Flexner Report impacted public perception of alternative medicine and thus contributed to the decline in homeopathic and eclectic medical schools. This study reveals that the media widely portrayed Flexner, and thus the information in his report, as a reliable and unbiased source despite Flexner’s strongly influenced educational philosophy and his close cooperation with the AMA which favoured allopathic medical schools. As financial records of homeopathic and eclectic medical schools reveal, the public’s acceptance of Flexner’s perspective led to a decline in public funding and enrolment at these institutions, thereby leading to the closure of numerous homeopathic and eclectic medical schools. However, since many of these institutions were suffering financially prior to 1910, the impact of the Flexner Report should not be over-stressed. Therefore, taking into consideration the historical context, the Flexner Report played a key role in hastening the pre-existing decline in homeopathic and eclectic medical schools.

Author(s):  
Anna Eleftheriou ◽  
Aikaterini Rokou ◽  
Christos Argyriou ◽  
Nikolaos Papanas ◽  
George S. Georgiadis

The impact of coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) on medical education has been substantial. Medical students require considerable clinical exposure. However, due to the risk of COVID-19, the majority of medical schools globally have discontinued their normal activities. The strengths of virtual teaching now include a variety of web-based resources. New interactive forms of virtual teaching are being developed to enable students to interact with patients from their homes. Conversely, students have received decreased clinical training in certain medical and surgical specialities, which may, in turn, reduce their performance, confidence, and abilities as future physicians. We sought to analyze the effect of telemedicine on the quality of medical education in this new emerging era and highlight the benefits and drawbacks of web-based medical training in building up future physicians. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unparalleled challenge to medical schools, which are aiming to deliver quality education to students virtually, balancing between evidence-based and experience-based medicine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-465
Author(s):  
Stanley N. Katz ◽  
Leah Reisman

AbstractThis article discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement on the arts and cultural sector in the United States, placing the 2020 crises in the context of the United States’s historically decentralized approach to supporting the arts and culture. After providing an overview of the United States’s private, locally focused history of arts funding, we use this historical lens to analyze the combined effects of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement on a single metropolitan area – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We trace a timeline of key events in the national and local pandemic response and the reaction of the arts community to the Black Lives Matter movement, arguing that the nature of these intersecting responses, and their fallout for the arts and cultural sector, stem directly from weaknesses in the United States’s historical approach to administering the arts. We suggest that, in the context of widespread organizational vulnerability caused by the pandemic, the United States’s decentralized approach to funding culture also undermines cultural organizations’ abilities to respond to issues of public relevance and demonstrate their civic value, threatening these organizations’ legitimacy.


Author(s):  
Rachmadya Nur Hidayah

ABSTRACT Background: National examinations in Indonesia (UKMPPD) has been implemented since 2007 as a quality assurance method for medical graduates and medical schools. The impact of UKMPPD has been studied since then, where one of the consequences were related to how it affected medical education and curricula. This study explored the consequences of UKMPPD, focusing on how the students, teachers, and medical schools’ leaders relate the examination with patient care. This study aimed to explore the impact of UKMPPD on medical education, which focusing on the issue of patient safety. Methods: This study was part of a doctoral project, using a qualitative method with a modified grounded theory approach. The perspectives of multiple stakeholders on the impact of the UKMPPD were explored using interview and focus groups. Interviews were conducted with medical schools’ representatives (vice deans/ programme directors), while focus groups were conducted with teachers and students. A sampling framework was used by considering the characteristics of Indonesian medical schools based on region, accreditation status, and ownership (public/ private). Data was analysed using open coding and thematic framework as part of the iterative process. Results: The UKMPPD affected how the stakeholders viewed this high-stakes examination and the education delivered in their medical schools. One of the consequences revealed how stakeholders viewed the UKMPPD and its impact on patient care. Participants viewed the UKMPPD as a method of preparation for graduates’ real clinical practice. The lack of reference for patient safety as the impact of the UKMPPD in this study showed that there were missing links in how stakeholders perceived the examination as part of quality assurance in health care. Conclusion: The UKMPPD as a high-stakes examination has a powerful impact in changing educational policy and programmes in Indonesia. However, in Indonesia, the examination brought in the reflection on how the “patient” element was lacking from medical education. This research offers an insight on the concept of patient safety in Indonesia and how the stakeholders could approach the issue. Keywords: UKMPPD, national licensing examination, impact, competence, patient safety, curriculum 


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen D. Holt ◽  
Rebecca S. Miller ◽  
Ingrid Philibert ◽  
Thomas J. Nasca

Abstract Background Recent studies suggest that the supply of primary care physicians and generalist physicians in other specialties may be inadequate to meet the needs of the US population. Data on the numbers and types of physicians-in-training, such as those collected by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), can be used to help understand variables affecting this supply. Objective We assessed trends in the number and type of medical school graduates entering accredited residencies, and the impact those trends could have on the future physician workforce. Methods Since 2004, the ACGME has published annually its data on accredited institutions, programs, and residents to help the graduate medical education community understand major trends in residency education, and to help guide graduate medical education policy. We present key results and trends for the period between academic years 2003–2004 and 2012–2013. Results The data show that increases in trainees in accredited programs are not uniform across specialties, or the types of medical school from which trainees graduated. In the past 10 years, the growth in residents entering training that culminates in initial board certification (“pipeline” specialties) was 13.0%, the number of trainees entering subspecialty education increased 39.9%. In the past 5 years, there has been a 25.8% increase in the number of osteopathic physicians entering allopathic programs. Conclusions These trends portend challenges in absorbing the increasing numbers of allopathic and osteopathic graduates, and US international graduates in accredited programs. The increasing trend in subspecialization appears at odds with the current understanding of the need for generalist physicians.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Govind C. Persad ◽  
Linden Elder ◽  
Laura Sedig ◽  
Leonardo Flores ◽  
Ezekiel J. Emanuel

The standards for medical education in the United States now go above and beyond traditional basic science and clinical subjects. Bioethics, health law, and health economics are recognized as important parts of translating physicians’ technical competence in medicine into effective research, administration, and medical care for patients. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which establishes certification requirements for medical schools, requires all medical schools to include bioethics in their curricula. Furthermore, issues such as the growth of genetic testing, end-of-life decision making for a burgeoning elderly population, confidentiality in the era of electronic medical records, and allocation of scarce medical resources make bioethics training clearly necessary for physicians. Although 16 percent of the United States GDP is devoted to health care, the LCME does not currently mandate training in health law or health economics. Furthermore, as the Schiavo case and HIPAA remind us, legal directives influence medical practice in areas such as billing, confidentiality, and end-of-life care.


2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Myers

Abstract The policewoman movement in England, Canada, and the United States begun in the 19th century with the prison reform movement. Just as separate prisons for women would protect them from the sexual danger of incarceration so would police matrons save the detained woman from the threat posed by male criminals and station officials. The next step in the evolution of the movement in the 1910s propelled women onto the streets as safety workers, patrol women, and policewomen, ostensibly to protect young women from lecherous males and to prevent the moral downfall of working-class women. The first generation of policewomen were a combination of social workers and cops, their duties being to chaperon the city's young women at dance halls, in parks and on urban streets. In 1918, Montreal hired its first policewomen to investigate women criminals. Using the files of one of the protective officers (Elizabeth Wand), Myers analyses the impact of this new disciplinary force. As a pioneer policewoman, whose job it was to patrol women and keep them safe from sexual danger and immorality, Wand expanded the meanings of crime, policing, and discipline. For this she encountered resistance from male officers and judges and from the policed women as well.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shayan Waseh ◽  
Adam P Dicker

BACKGROUND Telemedicine has grown exponentially in the United States over the past few decades, and contemporary trends in the health care environment are serving to fuel this growth into the future. Therefore, medical schools are learning to incorporate telemedicine competencies into the undergraduate medical education of future physicians so that they can more effectively leverage telemedicine technologies for improving the quality of care, increasing patient access, and reducing health care expense. This review articulates the efforts of allopathic-degree-granting medical schools in the United States to characterize and systematize the learnings that have been generated thus far in the domain of telemedicine training in undergraduate medical education. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review was to collect and outline the current experiences and learnings that have been generated as medical schools have sought to implement telemedicine capacity-building into undergraduate medical education. METHODS We performed a mixed-methods review, starting with a literature review via Scopus, tracking with Excel, and an email outreach effort utilizing telemedicine curriculum data gathered by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. This outreach included 70 institutions and yielded 7 interviews, 4 peer-reviewed research papers, 6 online documents, and 3 completed survey responses. RESULTS There is an emerging, rich international body of learning being generated in the field of telemedicine training in undergraduate medical education. The integration of telemedicine-based lessons, ethics case-studies, clinical rotations, and even teleassessments are being found to offer great value for medical schools and their students. Most medical students find such training to be a valuable component of their preclinical and clinical education for a variety of reasons, which include fostering greater familiarity with telemedicine and increased comfort with applying telemedical approaches in their future careers. CONCLUSIONS These competencies are increasingly important in tackling the challenges facing health care in the 21st century, and further implementation of telemedicine curricula into undergraduate medical education is highly merited.


Author(s):  
Molly Harrod ◽  
Sanjay Saint ◽  
Robert W. Stock

Medical schools in the United States now graduate some 18,000 students a year, and most of them will continue their medical education at one of the more than 1,000 teaching hospitals. Time constraints, complex patients, and the involvement of multiple disciplines in the care of patients have necessitated changes in medical education on the units. Unlike prior research, this project focused on the context in which learning happens and designated the team as the focus of research. The authors spent time with 12 outstanding attendings and their teams in order to provide detailed descriptions of the specific strategies, methods, and even language that the attendings use to teach their learners not only about medicine but also about how to care for patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Azizur R. Molla ◽  
Theresa Ann Bacon-Baguley ◽  
Susan DeVuyst-Miller ◽  
William Wonderlin ◽  
Elizabeth Benedetti

Background/Objective: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the US has given opportunity to obtain health insurance for thousands who were previously uninsured. Many believe that the ACA is an improvement over previous insurance, while others view it as making health care more costly. The purpose of this study was to survey individuals regarding knowledge and perceptions of the ACA.Methods: Researchers in public health, physician assistant studies, pharmacy and medical education developed a survey to assess the impact of the ACA. The survey included demographic questions and statements which assessed ACA support, and perspectives of the ACA’s impact on pharmaceutical and medical coverage and personal out of pocket costs. A convenience sampling was used to recruit participants at a public venue in an urban setting.Results: Demographics of the 179 surveyed include: median age 31 years; 84% Caucasian; 37% married; 58% completed a minimum of four years of college; and 45% with income exceeding $50,000. 13 (7%) were uninsured before the ACA, and 8 (4%) after. 130 (73%) had prescription coverage before the ACA with 107 (60%) reported no change in coverage, 22 (12%) better coverage, and 21 (12%) less coverage after the ACA. An association for ACA support was found based on political affiliation with more Democrats than Republicans supporting the ACA (p < .001). 71 (71%) who support the ACA, reported insurance did not improved after the ACA.Conclusions: These findings identify that in a sample of upper middle class individuals, a majority support the ACA despite a lack of improvement in their own insurance indicating that personal sacrifice for the general population is occurring.


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