The UMKC medical education experiment. An alternative pathway to physicianhood

The UMKC plan for medical education offers an alternative pathway for motivated high achievers with early evidence of health care commitment. Essentially, such a program is an honors program for the academically elite. The UMKC plan makes a large, sustained effort to influence attitude. In our descriptive literature and in our curriculum content, we have emphasized that we seek health care talent at the earliest age possible and that we use these formative years to enhance, to influence, and to inculcate the qualities of compassion, sensitivity, honesty, integrity, dependability, and responsibility. The reason for early admission is to influence attitude. We hold to the national standards in terms of science and technology, and all graduates have been required to pass Parts I and II of the National Board of Medical Examiners examinations. The graduate of this program, using performance in the first postgraduate year as a measure, is comparable with the product of the traditional eight-year concept, with a dividend of two extra years of career time. The UMKC program is not for all students; it is not offered as a replacement for the traditional American system. However, a proper distribution of medical admissions spaces should be made that takes advantage of the high level of ability, commitment, and dedication already present in the best of our high school students. A program such as the UMKC plan offers the prospect of educating American physicians, fully prepared technically but especially concerned with the important attitudinal values sought by the American public. Ward Darley, MD, was a consultant and guide during the founding years of this medical school. In his words, "The UMKC program is aimed at humanizing medicine, lowering the cost per student for education, providing a pool of dedicated physicians educated broadly enough to provide community leadership for future changes in the function and structure of society." Dr Darley's anticipation that this six-year program would lower the cost of medical education was always inherent in the simple arithmetic of six years compared with eight. These fiscal savings have been realized by our students and their parents. The additional bonus of two years of medical career is another kind of cost savings. However, the economy of the UMKC program is not the merit by which to judge. Instead, it should be judged on the basis of the opportunity to influence attitude and conduct and to inculcate an unusual quality of caring.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)