Minimum essential requirements and standards in medical education

Increasing globalization of medicine and worldwide migration of physicians call for urgent definition of a set of global standards and requirements to guide medical education curricula. This article reviews the definition of standards in general, and proposes a definition of standards and global min imum essential requirements for use in medical education. They may serve as a tool for the improvement of quality and international comparisons of bas ic medical programs. Reviewing the use of medical standards worldwide, the China Medical Board established the Institute for International Medical Edu cation (IIME). The IIME project is aimed at defining `global minimum essent ial requirements' comprising sciences basic to medicine, clinical knowledge and skills, professional values, behavior and ethics of universal value. T hey represent only a portion of requirements since the curriculum of each c ountry and medical school has to address its unique health and social needs . Finally, existing impediments and hesitation in use of international stan dards in medical education are presented.