Medical graduates evaluate the effectiveness of their education

In response to the General Medical Council's 1991 Consultative Document proposing changes to medical curricula, the King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, established a steering group to plan a new curriculum. As part of this process a postal survey was undertaken of five cohorts of King's graduates to ascertain how well the medical course they had undertaken had equipped them for practice. The questionnaire explored the level of factual content, the adequacy of their skills training, and the development of personal attributes during the course. A total of 371 graduates replied, a response rate of 78%. Over 70% indicated that their education had satisfactorily equipped them for their medical practice. Significant differences were found, however, between those now practising in primary care and those in hospital medicine regarding the importance attached to different subjects within the curriculum, and also with respect to the personal attributes the graduates felt they had acquired. Both groups identified deficiencies in virtually all aspects of their skills training: clinical, analytical, communication, management and technical. This feedback from some of the 'consumers' of medical education is now being used to assist the planning of the new King's curriculum.