GMC conducts major review of medical schools guidance

Doctors, medical students, health employers and patient groups have the opportunity to influence the GMC’s guidance for medical schools, at a consultative conference being held today.

Doctors, medical students, health employers and patient groups have the opportunity to influence the GMC’s guidance for medical schools, at a consultative conference being held today, 2 March.

The draft guidance, Tomorrow’s Doctors, will set out the standards medical students will be expected to meet before they graduate.  The consultation runs until 27 March.

The consultation, which draws on a new draft of Tomorrow’s Doctors, asks such questions as:

• Will future medical students be prepared for practice in an ageing population which suffers an increasing range of health problems? 
• Will the draft requirements prepare students for skills such as safe prescribing? 
• Should students be offered the opportunity to act as assistants to junior doctors, in order to increase their involvement in patient care?
• Do the draft standards appropriately involve patients and the public in the design and delivery of medical education?   

The proposed structure of the draft guidance separates the desired outcomes for medical students into three sections, covering the doctor as a scholar and scientist; the doctor as a practitioner; and the doctor as a professional. The guidance also sets out separate standards for the delivery of teaching, learning and assessment.

Professor Michael Farthing, Chair of the Tomorrow’s Doctors Review Group, said: "We are very keen to hear from those involved in providing medical education as well as those who receive it in order to inform our consultation on Tomorrow’s Doctors.  We see this as a valuable opportunity to help us to set the correct standards for future doctors."

Jill Morrison, Head of the Undergraduate Medical School, University of Glasgow, said: “Tomorrow’s Doctors has been hugely influential in determining the structure and content of undergraduate medical education since 1993.  It would be very helpful if the GMC could provide further guidance on the timing and appropriate types of clinical experience that would help graduates to be better prepared for the Foundation Programme while still allowing the flexibility of approach that is such a strength of UK medical education.”

Hannah Donnelly, Medical Student at the University of Sheffield, said: “There needs to be assurance that on completion of any medical course in the UK you possess the necessary skills and knowledge to become a competent doctor. What that competence is should be agreed between doctors, medical schools, students and the public.”

The consultation concludes on March 27. The revised guidance will be published in Summer 2009. To take part in the consultation visit https://gmc.e-consultation.net/econsult/default.aspx