What is medical education? Medical education differs around the world, although all medical schools strive to work towards the same standard of qualifications.

Medical education is basically any education which leads to or is for the purpose of becoming a medical practitioner, either in the initial training of becoming say, a doctor, or any additional training taken afterwards.

There are some diverse and alternate routes into the medical profession, which vary around the world, but well take a look at one of the most general courses of medical education often followed by doctors and other medical staff in the US.

Entry Level Education

Medical schools in the US generally require you to have some former University education, so these courses are known as second entry degrees. Competition is pretty fierce for entry to medical schools in the US, as there are nowhere near enough places available for the number of potential candidates. Some figures quote that in 2006 there were over 400,000 applicants for only 14,000 vacant positions, so they really can afford to choose the cream of the crop.

Post Graduate Education

After the entry level training is completed, it is usual for newly graduated doctors to undertake a period of time during supervised practice, before they are granted full registration. This one year period is sometimes referred to as provisional registration, residency, or more often internship.

It is at this point that many opt for further training specific to their chosen field of medicine. In some cases this can be started following immediate completion of the entry level training, but often it is necessary for junior doctors to follow general training for a period of time before specialized training can begin.

Online Medical Education

The internet is playing an increased role in continued medical education, with many possibilities for continuing medical education online, also known as distance learning. This has opened up extra training from medical schools around the world, for junior doctors who are already practicing in a different location. There has been lots of research conducted about online medical education including the following particular areas:

  • The varying roles of the participants (teacher, student etc)
  • Generation of content
  • Practical applications in relation to virtual patients
  • Assessment
  • Distance learning
  • Legal and ethical issues
  • Accessibility
  • Economics
  • Standards and specifications

International Medical Education

Globalization of the medical profession has made it increasingly important to create a basic standard for international medical education. This has been created by IHMEC (International Health and Medical Education Center) and ensures that medical students from around the world reach the necessary standards of expertise to be employed globally. This is of increasing importance, as places like US which simply does not have the medical school places available to train enough doctors to fill its own requirements, can employ medical staff from other places around the world. It has also opened up medical education possibilities for students to train in foreign countries and know that they will be gaining the necessary qualifications for worldwide employment.