The changing role of medical education in the face of pressure to reform health care

Medical education, like health care policy, is at a major crossroads in terms of rethinking the content of education and the changing role of the physician in society. This paper reviews the current state of medical education - both undergraduate medical education and continuing medical education. It then focuses on changes that must be made, including developing new strategies that are educationally sound, acceptable to busy practitioners, acknowledge patient and physician preferences, acknowledge the practice environment, and begin in medical school and continue for the professional life of the physician.