[Barbarism: education without history of medicine]

Rudolf Virchow regarded medical education that did not include the history of medicine as barbarism. Despite this view, current education on medical history in medical faculties in the Netherlands is minimal in terms of the number of teaching staff and the hours spent on the subject. Important arguments for teaching medical history to medical students are academic development, a better understanding of the historic fundamentals of research, clinical practice and the medical profession and, more recently, a better understanding of the historical and social context of medicine. Modern education on the history of medicine provides a perfect opportunity for critical reflection on the complexity of modern-day medicine. On the basis of these arguments, history of medicine belongs within the framework for Undergraduate Medical Education as an independent domain with appropriate assessment.