Toward an holistic education in pathology and medicine

In an attempt to answer the criticism that medical education does not adequately prepare the student for his future profession, the basic course in pathology in the medical faculty of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam has been organized along the lines of Rogers' "student-centered teaching" (1), Mursell's "individualization in social learning situations" (2), and Brown's "confluent education" (3). These organizational factors, combined with a definition of pathology that is broader than the one tradionally given in that it includes the study of psychological, sociological, economic, and political factors related to the etiology of somatic disorders, result in a course that forms the basis of an education in "humanistic medicine." The basic principles in this approach are summarized, and a description of the course, with special attention to the application of confluent education in the medical setting, is given.