The medical profession in the future: implications for training programs

Abstract

To the main title of this presentation, ‘the medical Profession in the Future’, I have added a sub-title of my own which requires some clarification. In my opinion, the medical profession of the future is a subject of little interest since I do not expect there to be much future for the medical profession in its present form. In this talk I will first of all maintain that this profession originated in a not very distant past to serve purposes which were typical of that past. In the second place, I will argue that the realities of today’s health care have outgrown the original scope of this same medical profession and that, having served its nineteenth century purposes, it now shows signs of becoming a thing of the past. In the third place, I will discuss the relations between these views and present developments in medical education, the main conclusion being that it is no longer possible to educate for one medical profession and that our programs should be differentiated to prepare for the variety of qualifications demanded by modern health care.