Multimorbidity and the need to rethink Medical Education.

Abstract

The prevalence of patients experiencing multimorbidity is increasing year on year, accompanied by an expanding knowledge base in this field. Perhaps once considered the domain of geriatricians and general practitioners, all healthcare professionals are now likely to encounter, assess and manage patients living with multimorbidity as part of their daily practice. Despite our recognition and understanding of this changing profile of our patients, the evidence on how best to educate our healthcare workforce to meet the population’s needs lags behind.We propose that all healthcare education and training must give due consideration to the positioning of multimorbidity in their curricula and assessments. Furthermore, expertise from both educationalists and multimorbidity researchers will be required to inform key decisions.