Organizers Plan Online Medical School

slashdot_commentator writes "Job has you down? Thinking of starting a second career? How about finally getting that medical degree you've been putting off? A group of more than 50 schools in 16 countries are working to create an online medical school, in part to combat the "brain drain" that occurs when medical students go abroad for their education but do not return later. ... Organizers said that because degrees would be granted by individual participating schools, all of which are accredited, students should not have to worry about accreditation problems."

Comments

So it will go something like this...

[lobos]

I'm so excited to have you as a patient. I never had to cut anything open in med school and this is my first chance!

operation

[rc27]

For gross anatomy, everyone will be mailed their own copy of the Operation! board game. These guys will be very good at diagnosing and fixing charlie horses and wrenched knees.

Excuse for porn

[rossz]

Just say you are studying to become a gynecologist.

Halfway there.

[Shook]

Whether it scares you or not, my medical school can be mostly attended online, as well.

All the lectures are recorded in RealAudio, and most of the lecturers show slides in PowerPoint (available for download). The ones that use standard overheads put the handouts in our mailboxes. The students pool together to make transcripts of the lectures, which are very high quality. Tests are online.

The upshot of this is about half of the class rarely attends lectures. Some students NEVER attend the lectures, live 2 hours away, and drive in once a week for the clinical stuff in the hospitals. Just today, a review lecture had an attendance of 14 people out of 160. (I was there because I had to record the RealAudio)

This is just for the first two "basic science" years. Years 3 and 4 are in the hospital wards, getting hands-on experience. Obviously, that can't be done over the web.

I've found that in med school, there is more of an attitude that the students are in charge, and an acknowledgement that people learn in different ways. The faculty will generally go out of their way to make sure you can get all the material. The students are motivated enough to learn on their own. If they learn best by skipping class, the faculty is OK with this.

Re:Med School vs. Internship

[BWJones]

Actually, as one who completed the first two years of medical school and then progressed to a Ph.D. program (don't know if I will go back), I can tell you that there is a tremendous amount of first hand experience that needs to occur and cannot be duplicated in a virtual environment. Many schools are now starting to integrate some pateint exposure to medical students in the first two years for instance. As for other "tangible" experiences, I only have to cite gross anatomy. This class absolutely must be taken by medical students and there is no virtual substitute for actually physically taking a body apart and learning where cavities are and how things fit together. For instance, where does blood pool when you have an internal bleed? How do the sinuses in the head relate to other structures? etc...etc...etc... This is possible to learn from an "academic" sense, but honestly, there is no substitute. Additionally, most gross anatomy classes are the first opportunity medical students get to touch bodies, and believe it or not, respect for the human body, and the sacrifice the donors made is something else that is an important experience.

As for the intern bit, yes, most physicians learn most from the first post graduate year, but you ABSOLUTELY do touch patients before your internship. You get to intubate, learn how to ascultate heart and breath sounds, interview patients assist with surgeries, set broken bones, suture wounds etc...etc...etc... all in your third and fourth years of medical school. Typically under the supervision of attending and senior residents of course.

I would be truly scared of anyone who did not have that experience before starting an intership and residency.

Costly

[Frank of Earth]

Initial financing for the project, amounting to $140,000, came from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

$24,917 * 7 = ~175k

Which, ironically, is about the cost of the tuition for the 7 years of med school for only one student. If they get two students, they will already be doubling their money ;-)

HowTo become a doctor

Re:Bad idea

[Frank of Earth]

Did you even read the article?

During the first two years of the curriculum, about 70 percent of the students' time would be taken up by distance learning, and the remainder by working in a community setting like a clinic or hospital. After that, the proportions would shift to about 30 percent computer-based learning and 70 percent working in a practice setting.

I don't know what's worse, the post or the idiots that modded it up.