Learning in teaching hospitals and the community: time to get the balance right

摘要

Teaching hospitals have been integral to the education of medical students and doctors for centuries. For example, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh was built as part of a plan for teaching medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the first patient, a girl with anaemia, was admitted on 6 August 1729.1 Thereafter, the doctors and surgeons of the town undertook, in rotation, to treat the patients and teach the medical students. The dominance of teaching hospitals in medical education has continued until recent times. However, in the last few decades there has been recognition that medical students have much to gain from learning in other clinical settings and community-based medical education has been promoted increasingly.