Medical Education: One Size Does not Fit All

The Flexner report provided a stimulus for dramatic changes in medical education. No longer would physicians be educated through loosely organized apprenticeships with unspecified training objectives and indeterminate lengths of servitude. While changes have occurred over time, the introduction of interactions with patients earlier in the course of the traditional 4-year medical school curriculum and less time passively sitting in large lecture halls, this model of medical education still exists today. Medical school education is rightly focused on creating the "stem cell" doctors graduates ready to pursue any path in the graduate medical education phase of their education. Advances in instructional methodologies such as online education, podcasts, new web- and app-based tools, and simulations will accelerate the development of more cohesive links between specific knowledge and skills and the different roles of physicians. The exchange of ideas and information among medical educators will play an important role in creation of the momentum required for success.