Commentary: improving medical education during financially challenging times

The expectation exists that medical education will continue to improve even during financially challenging times. The authors reviewed their recent experiences in effecting positive changes and improvements in Mayo Medical School during a time of fiscal constraint. They successfully implemented numerous changes, including a major curriculum reform, while modestly reducing overall costs of the medical school and improving student satisfaction and learner outcomes. These improvements resulted from careful alignment among the institutional mission of serving the needs of the patient, communication with the faculty, involvement of the students, and streamlining of multiple processes throughout the school. The authors sought to eliminate excessive resource utilization while retaining the essence of Mayo Medical School's education process. The authors' experience can both encourage and inspire other schools to continue to improve the educational experience for their students in concert with meeting increasing financial pressures.