Three Years

Some medical schools in New York have started developing three year MD programs. In an attempt to save money for students, create more physicians, and improve efficiency of medical education, they have compressed the traditional four years into three that include summer courses. It's an interesting thought. This experiment happened several decades ago but failed. Yet there are some medical schools (in Canada, for example) that have a three year curriculum that works. And Duke has a four-year curriculum where one of the years is entirely dedicated to research or an additional degree.

In my opinion, there is too much to learn in medicine in three years, or four, or five. It's a lifelong activity. Three may be sufficient to build an adequate foundation of knowledge, skills, and learning. But I'm still a little hesitant. The time in medical school is time for emotional and professional maturation; it is time for exploration, reflection, discovery, and passion-finding; it is time to integrate the ideals, principles, values, and ethics of being a physician. One can learn pharmacology or neuroscience or anatomy at a faster pace, but it's much harder to build character, decide on a specialty, and feel like a physician at an accelerated speed.

The benefits may outweigh those downsides. We do need more physicians, the cost of medical training is absurdly high, and this may be an attractive option for those who are older, coming from other jobs, or certain about their specialty. With the right selection of candidates, appropriate assessments, and a well-planned curriculum, the physicians graduating may be indiscernible from those coming out of traditional four year programs. Nevertheless, I was happy with the pace of my medical education and wouldn't have opted otherwise.