Becoming a Physician at UM SOM - Causes of the Current Concern

Faculty members have pointed to several causes for the current concern. They include:

• The move from campus-based inpatient to community-based ambulatory care settings.
• The reduction in longer-term preceptor/apprenticeship relationships.
• The changing nature of the pool of persons entering medical school.
• The changing nature of society.
• The changing nature of medicine (e.g., less time with each patient.)

I am not certain if it really matters what the cause(s) is; what matters is how we respond to the widespread perception that we can/should/must improve our job communicating our expectations about, our teaching of and our evaluation of these areas.