[Education in laboratory medicine for undergraduates--laboratory medicine in core curriculum]

A model core curriculum for medical education was proposed in March 2001. This guideline is meant to serve as the essential basis of material to be mastered at present and as a reference for curricula to be constructed by individual medical schools. Laboratory medicine plays an important role in this guideline, not only as an essential component of diagnosis and laboratory testing in various diseases but also in consultation. In the Department of Clinical Pathology, Showa University School of Medicine, we revised the curriculum of lectures and clinical training in laboratory medicine according to the guideline. This revision is expected to improve education and result in better doctors. We also will modify the method for education from lectures to a tutorial system, in which laboratory medicine should play an important role in devising tasks for tutorials.