Demonstrating social accountability in medical education

The author considers the University of Toronto's Health, illness and the Community course for undergraduate medical students, described in this issue by Wasylenki and associates (see pages 379 to 383). Social accountability in medical education demands a community orientation and hence an emphasis on outreach. Medical schools should expand their clinical service to the community, provide community-based residency placements and offer continuing medical education in rural and regional centres. Accountability also requires community involvement in planning and implementing research projects. Placing students in a community setting as part of the curriculum is praiseworthy, but it is not sufficient to ensure social accountability. What is needed now is a more comprehensive acceptance by faculties of medicine of the mandate of community-centred learning, together with well-targeted funding for education and research initiatives.