The Practice of Medicine and the Teaching of Ethics: The Need for a New Direction in Medical Education

Summary

This submission argues that there is a a need for fundamental changes in both the context and the structure of medical education. The purpose of these changes should be to enhance the responsiveness of medicine to the community and to contribute to the development of an appreciation of the importance of ethical issues in medical practice.

Specifically, on the basis of argument about the nature in general of medicine and its clinical practice it claims that there is a need for an emphasis on teaching in ethics and the humanities as central concerns of the medical curricula. Further, it proposes that a prerequisite for entry into the medical course should be established which requires that students spend a period of time working in the community and a further period engaged in general studies.