Humanizing Physician Learning
The 100-year-old Flexner Report emphasized the role of basic science in the making of a doctor, producing the most significant change in medical education in the U.S. There has been no transformation of equal impact on how we train doctors to care for patients, which is the topic of this month’s issue. Presuming as a starting point that humanizing physician learning will result in more compassionate care for patients, this month’s authors probe ways to achieve that intermediate goal, from changes in medical student grading and resident work-hour limits to greater ethnic diversity among practicing physicians.