Medicine is rapidly becoming an entry-level degree rather than a complete education, according to Prof Dermot Kelleher, the recently appointed Regius Professor of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He also warned that the clinical education system in the Republic was structurally flawed.
Speaking at the Irish Times/ Royal Academy of Medicine lecture in Dublin last night, Prof Kelleher said there was a need to develop a new approach to medical education that would take on board the major advances in medical sciences. He called for the introduction of a new integrated curriculum for the degree of medicine.
"I think it is also important that we recognise that medicine is now becoming an entry-level degree. Many people are graduating with a medical degree only subsequently to go on to do a MBA, a degree in law, courses in regulatory affairs or journalism," he said.
Medicine in the Republic is taught in two separate elements. Calling for integration of the undergraduate curriculum, Prof Kelleher said that clinical and pre-clinical subjects should be taught as a single course.