Does premedical education make the grade?
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* D. John Doyle

While teaching a medical student recently I had occasion to offer some medical ethics scenarios for commentary. I pointed out that most such scenarios can be approached using 4 philosophical principles (autonomy, justice, beneficence and nonmalfeasance) and that this was an example of how nontechnical topics studied in university can be beneficial in clinical practice.

The student's response disturbed me. He indicated that he found these issues to be interesting but that getting very high course marks in his premed program was of primary and central importance to gaining acceptance into medical school. Because instructors of philosophy and other humanities courses tended to be "hard markers," taking such courses was seen (probably quite rightly) as impairing one's chances of ever becoming a doctor.

Is there a need for some fine tuning in how we select students for medical school?