How medical education was dumbed down
sir – Professor Irving Taylor (Letters, March 6) argues in favour of more medical student apprenticeships.
When I entered medical school 50 years ago, we spent two years learning the basic sciences. We were then attached to one of two consultants for several months at a time, on “firms”. This involved clerking patients, taking bloods, performing minor tests and, on surgical firms, assisting in theatre.
At the time of my retirement, it was very rare to see a medical student on a ward. Playing with dummies is no match for dealing with real people.
Having qualified, we were assigned house jobs – in my case with one surgeon for six months. A further 11 years of training followed. These were genuine apprenticeships. Now, thanks to academic educationalists and the European Working Time Directive, juniors are under-trained at the time they are meant to take up consultant posts. Sadly, responsibility for the dumbing-down of medical education lies with me and my peers – for allowing it to happen.
David Nunn FRCS
West Malling, Kent
sir – Professor Irving Taylor suggests that medical students should be employed in the health service while at university.
This may not be a regular practice for medical students but it certainly used to be for radiographers. I trained at a school of radiography based at Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham – three days a week in the classroom and two in the department learning under the guidance of senior radiographers.
I dealt directly with patients throughout my three-year training and gained valuable clinical experience. When I qualified, I was capable of working independently immediately and felt confident in my job.
I noticed that, when radiography became a degree course, newly qualified radiographers had very little practical experience, couldn’t be left alone to work and seemed to think they were there to network with doctors and sit tapping at a computer, rather than actually getting on their feet and dealing with patients.
Karen Gwynn
Bromsgrove, Worcestershire