Medical education reform: the Asian experience.

Full Abstract

Medical education reform is taking place all over the world including Asia, which has 60% of the world's population. Confronted with diverse social and cultural needs as well as resource constraints, various regions in Asia have carried out medical education reform at different levels and directions. In this article, the authors describe the application of Western-inspired reforms and localization and adaptation of Western models to fit the cultural and community needs in the five different subregions of Asia: (1) Eastern Asia, (2) Southern Asia, (3) Southeastern Asia, (4) Central Asia, and (5) Western Asia. The article reviews whether the medical education reforms brought improvement to the medical curricula and effectively fulfilled the cultural and social needs of Asian countries. The authors also explore the establishment of medical education departments in many Asian medical schools and the incorporation of research findings into medical practice. Departments of medical education will facilitate localization and promote further development of medical education reform in Asia despite the challenges ahead.

Author information

Author/s: Lam, Tai Pong (TP); Lam, Yu Ying Bess (YY);

Affiliation: Family Medicine Unit, The University of Hong Kong, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong. tplam(-atsign-)hku.hk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (Acad Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 84 (issue 9) : pp 1313-7

Dates: Created 2009/08/26; Completed 2009/09/28;

PMID: 19707080, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/28/2009, IMS Date: )

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