Undergraduate medical education in obstetrics and gynaecology in the USA and Canada, 1985

Many factors have led to a movement from the emphasis of the 1960s and 1970s on departmental expansion towards an emphasis on cost-effective undergraduate medical education emphasizing the 'art' as well as the 'science' of medicine. In January 1985 a questionnaire was sent under the auspices of the Undergraduate Education Committee of the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology to all chairmen of departments of obstetrics and gynecology in the USA and Canada seeking their opinions about these trends and information about the educational programmes in their departments. The information from this study indicates that the chairmen are aware of and responding to this new direction in medical education. A stabilization of teaching staff and clerkship sizes and the emphasis on clinical as well as cognitive evaluation, despite recognition of the cost of the former, shows active interventions towards these ends. An emphasis on education in 'basic' as compared to 'subspecialty' areas which is independent of the subspecialty of the academic chairman also supports this trend.