What makes the most effective future physician? Medical schools are addressing this question by changing medical education to include performance improvement, the focus of a panel at the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement® (PCPI®) meeting last week in Washington, D.C.
Mark Quirk, EdD, AMA vice president of medical education outcomes, discussed the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Education initiative and explained how the 11 schools that received grants from the AMA are contributing to a movement toward new norms in medical education, ultimately improving patient care in a changing health care system.
The vast amount and varying quality of medical knowledge available today is staggering and presents challenges to medical education, Quirk told meeting attendees. One of the most significant challenges, he said, is that doctors and students often rely on “rules of thumb” when treating patients, which can present inherent biases.
The solution lies in changing medical education to be based more in real-world practice and competency assessment, Quirk said. Evolving medical education will focus on performance improvement, concentrating on chronic care, teamwork, population health and community.
“The physician of the future will have the remarkable ability to reflect on their biases,” said Quirk, adding that the ideal medical school graduate will approach patient care as a complex, adaptive challenge that favors interdependence.
The AMA’s work in medical education is addressing this need. The 11 participating schools are retooling their curriculum to ensure students will be able to:
- Identify and address current system failures and contribute to a culture of safety and improvement
- Function as a successful member of an interprofessional team
- Form clinical questions and retrieve high-quality evidence to advance patient care
Because physicians of the future will be accustomed to continuous self-assessment beginning in medical school, they also will be lifelong learners.
“These schools will make authentic learning accessible,” Quirk said.
