The Medical School's Mission and the Population's Health [electronic resource] : Medical Education in Canada, The United Kingdom, The United States, and Australia / edited by Kerr L. White, Julia E. Connelly
Medical schools exist as part of a complex educational and health care sysยญ tem with affiliations to universities, teaching hospitals, outpatient clinics, students, and communities. Those of us who serve as trustees and volunteers on boards and commitยญ tees of medical schools carry obvious responsibilities for the performance of the institution with regard to those affiliations, including those that relate to the community. By what criteria, and by what standards, do we as trustees assess that performance? For trustees of medical schools, I suggest that the most imยญ portant criteria are those concerned with the purpose for which the school was originally established and those that relate to the community that supยญ ports it and is served by it. For a medical school performance criteria should be defined in a statement of purpose: the "mission" of the school. This mission statement should proยญ vide trustees with direction on such vital matters as the following: What does the medical school seek to accomplish? Whom does it serve? Where is it going? What is the relationship to the geographic region or other community that it may seek to serve? Such questions are stated more easily than they are answered, but they should be asked. For trustees who are responsible for the education of stuยญ dents, the management of faculty, and the stewardship of funds they are a matter of serious concern
CONTENT
1 Redefining the Mission of the Medical School -- Discussion -- 2 The Social Contract and the Medical School's Responsibilities -- Discussion -- 3 Measuring the Burden of Illness in General Populations -- Discussion -- 4 The Potential and Organization of Health Intelligence Units -- Discussion -- 5 Population-Based Medicine: A Case Study from a Traditional School -- Discussion -- 6 A Community and Population-Oriented Medical School: Newcastle, Australia -- Discussion -- 7 Essential Institutional Competencies for Population-Based Education -- Discussion -- 8 Essential Population-Based Competencies for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Students -- Discussion -- 9 Balancing Perspectives -- Conference Participants
