[The practicability of preceptorship in the curriculum of medical education]

Physicians who have graduated from traditional medical education curriculum focus on technological and organ system training, and are deficient in modern community health care concepts and skills. A preceptorship course integrates at various medical educational periods is one of the important goals at education reform in America. In this study, we attempt to ascertain the opinions of family physicians about the current family medicine curriculum and the practicability of preceptorship in Taiwan. The result can be a reference for future medical curriculum design. Two hundreds and thirty-five (40.8%) questionnaires were collected and analyzed. They showed most respondents were dissatisfied with the current curriculum of family medicine, and most agree that primary care physicians involvement would be helpful in producing efficient and well-qualified physicians. They suggested that preceptorship should best be first integrated in a basic knowledge course. We suggest that faculties who are responsible for curriculum design should evaluate the current curriculum and the appropriateness of preceptorship in Taiwan. Prior to the reform, faculty development and evaluation are the essential and crucial tasks.