Can medical school be condensed into 3 years?

Do medical students need to attend medical school for four years to be fully prepared for a residency position? One physician says no.

Deborah Powell, MD, dean emeritus at the Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota School of Medicine, is the founder of the Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum Project, a competency-based medical education model created in partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges. The program began in 2009 and accepted its first class of students in 2013.

Dr. Powell said the idea behind the model is that students who advance through medical school on the basis of their mastery of certain topics and concepts can be just as successful and as prepared for residency as those who complete the traditional four-year education model. To date, six students enrolled in the program have been accepted and enrolled in medical residency programs, according to the report.

Four universities are currently participating in the program, including the University of Minnesota Medical School, the Aurora-based University of Colorado School of Medicine, Salt Lake City-based the University of Utah School of Medicine and the UC San Francisco School of Medicine.

Dr. Powell said EPAC has the potential to change the way medical education is perceived in the U.S., and can open the doors for innovation in the classroom. "I think we've done some things that have really changed the paradigm of medical education and that's what's so exciting to me," she said.

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