A recent article in The Washington Post asks whether or not medical school should be shortened to three years, and highlights medical programs across the country that are “fast tracking” its students as a way to get more doctors into the field sooner.
One example: With support from Macy, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Utah are piloting competency-based pediatric residency programs. Rather than advancing students through the schools’ pediatric residency programs in the traditional, “fixed-time” model (four years of medical school plus three years of residency training), students will be advancing as they master each competency required to practice.
It is clear that the health professions education landscape is changing, and that new models of education are critical to ensure our healthcare workforce is meeting the needs of the public.