Toward a Holistic Approach in Medical Education

In this chapter, we briefly present the case of medical practice and education as they evolved through history until modern times. The history of medical practice and education portrays a transformation from unstructured spiritual and apprenticeship practice of the older days transitioning toward the current biopsychosocial medical model that is based on scientific evidence-based methods and practice. Educational methods have also developed from didactic traditional pedagogies and passive learning to more interactive methods and technologies based on andragogy. A preview of theoretical frameworks sets the ground for a discussion about medical schools’ curricula, values, and mission statements. The purpose of the frameworks is to illustrate the basic concepts on which a curriculum is constructed, and thus employ this in assessing whether these frameworks would fulfill the core values of medical practice as a holistic, bio-psychosocial science and practice; conceptual values that could address the communities’ current needs and rights to care. The chapter concludes with an analysis of few examples of mission statements that reflect the existent medical schools’ programs, values, and outcomes that are sought in future medical practitioners. A program that results in graduating competent, knowledgeable, and humanistic medical practitioners is the goal of all medical schools.