Medical education--the next 40 years

As the Christchurch campus of the Otago Medical School celebrates its 40th anniversary, this paper ponders where medical education might head in the next 40 years. The patient must remain at the centre of health care and health care education but such education needs to be placed within nurturing environments that value support and innovation. Synthesising evidence, weighing up options, considering the personal factors that a patient brings and the uniqueness of a person's particular illness will be increasingly important roles of a future doctor. This requires interpreting complex data, people skills, flexibility, redeployability and, at times even acting like the "Parish priest". Ultimately however, if we select the right people, create the right expectations, and give them the right learning opportunities, then the curriculum will look after itself.