DEMAND-SIDE MEDICAL-EDUCATION - EDUCATING FUTURE PHYSICIANS FOR ONTARIO

Initiated by Associated Medical Services (AMS), Educating Future Physi cians for Ontario is a 5-year collaborative project whose overall goal is to make medical education in Ontario more responsive to that provi nce's evolving health needs. It is supported by AMS, the five universi ties with medical schools or academic health sciences centres and the Ontario Ministry of Health. The project's five objectives are to (a) d efine the health needs and expectations of the public as they relate t o the training of physicians, (b) prepare the educators of future phys icians, (c) assess medical students' competencies, (d) support related curricular innovations and (e) develop ongoing leadership in medical education. There are several distinctive features: a focus on ''demand -side'' considerations in the design of curricula, collaboration withi n a geo-political jurisdiction (Ontario), implementation rather than r ecommendation, a systematic project-evaluation plan and agreement as t o defined project outcomes, in particular the development of instituti onal mechanisms of curriculum renewal as health needs and expectations evolve.