Med school: a training program or an education?

[Jack Daniel]

One of UNECOM's medical humanities instructors recently said in class that med school was not so much an education as it was a training program. He said that your "education" begins after school. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

I thought this was interesting because I love to learn and find the information interesting, but have really resisted the pace and the "do this, and this, and this at this time and then let's test" approach. (This is why I didn't apply for the military scholarship. Yep, the boy can learn.)

This comment was acutally helpful to me, although by now (the end of my first year), I've already kind of figured that out! For some reason, when I began, I had in my mind that med school was similar to the grad school model (I know--don't laugh) where one has more freedom to pursue more in depth study on subjects of interest. Obviously, there's just no time for that during school.

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[JonnyG]

We essentially apprentice for medical school and residency and are trained to do things the way our teachers do things. When you are done with residency, you can do things the way you want to do them and learn things that you want to. I think your teacher described it just right.

 

[GreenShirt]

I suppose med school is pretty much a trade school. Whether it's "training" or "education" depends on how you define those terms. There is a body of knowledge that's crammed down your throat but at the same time you have to learn how to apply that info to real people. Although, how you do that probably just mimics how your mentor does it.

 

[Dr JPH]

Medical school is a training program based on repetition and fear.

They say it until you get it and scare you into learning it based on the consequences of NOT learning.

So its both.