Family medicine defines its academic niche: The Split Initiative

Abstract

Increasingly, medical education is gaining its importancein the academic arena. Although it is still considered tobe less important than research, it is now widely acknowledgedthat this area of science also needs attention. It isno longer acceptable for the medical schools not to payclose attention to teaching aims, methods of teaching andassessment (1-8). Teachers of medicine at all levels mustalso be in contact with the latest developments in education,not only in science.In the last decades, medical education has changedconsiderably. The old fashioned methods of passiveteaching methods are slowly giving way to more activemethods of teaching (9). The aims of medical educationare changing and more emphasis is given to changing attitudesand shaping the future doctors so that they willbecome self-directed learners for the rest of their professionalcareers (10).