Since medical education is expensive, healthcare professional students in many countries must take out loans to pay for their studies. The resultant levels of debt have created concerns at both the beginning and the end of undergraduate education. How should medical educators respond to these concerns? If educators are to look at medical education from the perspective of their students who are most in need, then they should think about this. Educators should think about their response when current or prospective students ask them about mitigating the costs of medical education. This may include questions about working during undergraduate studies, the costs of living in different locations, and the availability of bursaries that offer financial aid to students. Medical students should be encouraged to "think like an investor" when making decisions related to their medical education. Senior medical educators should be well placed to advise them in this regard.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Students, Medical*

The subject of the cost and value of medical education is becoming increasingly important. However, this subject is not a new one. Fifty years ago, Mr. DH Patey, Dr. OF Davies, and Dr. John Ellis published a report on the state of postgraduate medical education in the UK. The report was wide-ranging, but it made a considerable mention of cost. In this short article, I have presented the documentary research that I conducted on their report. I have analyzed it from a positivist perspective and have concentrated on the subject of cost, as it appears in their report. The authors describe reforms within postgraduate medical education; however, they are clear from the start that the issue of cost can often be a barrier to such reforms. They state the need for basic facilities for medical education, but then outline the financial barriers to their development. The authors then discuss the costs of library services for education. They state that the "annual spending on libraries varies considerably throughout the country." The authors also describe the educational experiences of newly graduated doctors. According to them, the main problem is that these doctors do not have time to attend formal educational events, and that this will not be possible until there is "a more graduated approach to responsible clinical work," something which is not possible without financial investment. While concluding their report, the authors state that the limited money invested in postgraduate medical education and continuing medical education has been well spent, and that this has had a dual effect on improving medical education as well as the standards of medical care.
Education ; Education, Medical* ; Education, Medical, Continuing* ; Investments ; Library Services

No abstract available.
Humans ; Inpatients* ; Surgery, Plastic*

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Education, Medical*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Delivery of Health Care* ; Education*

No abstract available.
Compliance* ; Pain Management*

No abstract available.

Before we work out what constitutes an assessment's value for a given cost in medical education, we must first outline the steps necessary to create an assessment, and then assign a cost to each step. In this study we undertook the first phase of this process: we sought to work out all the steps necessary to create written selected-response assessments. First, the lead author created an initial list of potential steps for developing written assessments. This was then distributed to the other three authors. These authors independently added further steps to the list. The lead author incorporated the contributions of these others and created a second draft. This process was repeated until consensus was achieved amongst the study's authors. Next, the list was shared by means of an online questionnaire with 100 healthcare professionals with experience in medical education. The results of the authors' and healthcare professionals' thoughts and feedback on the steps, needed to create written assessment, are outlined below in full. We outlined the steps that are necessary to create written or web-based selected-response assessments.
Consensus ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education, Medical ; Internet ; Surveys and Questionnaires