The Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa) was founded to address underrepresentation of blacks in health professions and inadequate health care in the homelands. It trains most allied health professionals in the country, emphasizing community service and preventive medicine. Medunsa and American health professions schools can learn from…

Proceedings of the conference on improving the social responsiveness of medical schools include papers on the role of medical schools in relation to societal needs, the missions of medical schools (from North American, European, African, and Asian perspectives), measuring social responsiveness (perspective of the United Kingdom, standard-setting,…

A study of 336 staff-led, problem-based tutorial groups in a European university health sciences program found that students who were tutored by subject-matter experts achieved somewhat better and spent more time on self-directed learning. In addition, tutoring skill and content knowledge were important in effective tutoring. (Author/MSE)

Interviews with 116 Texas health science center administrators and faculty, community leaders, and state officials investigated barriers to development of area health education centers for training health professionals. School and community respondents agreed on the need for more cooperative planning and training for future activities with border…

A survey of 96 United States and 9 Canadian medical schools found that the large majority accepted students with learning disabilities and claimed to make some academic accommodations. Most would administer nonstandard (i.e., nontimed) licensing examinations, and many reported that their affiliated postgraduate medical-training programs would also…

Discussion of medical education in Spain looks briefly at history and early reforms, then examines the current system, including emphasis on traditional teaching methods, focus on faculty research over teaching, inadequate resident assessment, and lack of coordination among continuing medical education providers. Ongoing reform efforts are also…