What are we doing wrong in medical education?

In the third Medical Teacher ‘Talking Point’ podcast, titled "What are we doing wrong in Medical Education?", I argue that decisions are taken in medical education without the necessary evidence to support them and that where evidence is available this is often ignored.

National licensing exams have been a feature of medical education in the USA and recently have been adopted in other countries. In a conversation with my good friend Lawrence Sherman, I suggested that while there are benefits to standardisation, the evidence in favour of introducing a national exam is weak, and the move is not consistent with the trends in today’s assessment practice such as programmatic assessment.

I also point out that the evidence supporting the move to graduate rather than direct entry to medical school is at best weak. Other concerns I expressed related to decisions about admission to medicine and the fact that MCQs continue to be widely used despite the well-documented evidence that VSAQs are more reliable and valid and are feasible.

Listen to my podcast on:

• Spotify

• Castbox

• Pocket Casts

You can also access two previous podcasts in the ‘Talking Point’ series:

• Revolutionising medical education: Harnessing the power of AI and ChatGPT

• An OSCE is not an OSCE simply because you call it that!