In an era of rapid healthcare evolution, complex challenges abound from changes in patient demographics, diseases, demand and delivery; to cost, technology, and setting. Such transformations, bound by political, socioeconomic, cultural, and countless other hurdles, cannot be systematically and strategically met by a workforce whose pedagogy and preparation was intended for a different breed and generation of doctors. For decades, the approach to clinical education has not fundamentally changed, even as medical education literature has become inundated with calls for reform and restructuring. Despite a global shift towards shortened inpatient stays and increased ambulatory care, for example, the first clinical year of medical school has retained a block model in which students rotate through discipline-specific clerkships. Notwithstanding its history and tradition, the latter model is deemed “poorly aligned with society’s present and future needs”, leading to ill-prepared graduates.
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