SETTINGS FOR LEARNING - THE COMMUNITY BEYOND

The primary objective of medical education to medical students should not be the recruitment of specialists or to provide instructions about highly sophisticated clinic medicine. Our responsibility towards them is rather to enable them to learn about medical practice in its most prevalent context, which is the community medical practice, and to con tribute to their general medical education and the health welfare of t heir community. The health needed by the nation cannot possibly be pro vided by specialists. It is a task for all doctors. If we agree that t he ultimate goal of medical education is to secure health and proper c are (whether primary, secondary or tertiary) for the population, medic al curricula and learning settings should be open for any modification s that ensure a proper approach to our patients' practicalities, resou rces and needs. A major modification involved in that process would be for the educational setting to move from the hospital into the commun ity and doctors to acquire the skills and conviction of working as par t of a health team, in which they are not necessarily the leaders.