2. Travis, I’ve chosen to pursue medicine later in life partly because I am encouraged by health care reform.

Is the MCAT really a sound indicator in the medical school admission process? I personally think that the MCAT is bogus and should be abolished. It is just another deplorable, sinful and humanly irreprehensible tool used by medical school admission committee all across the country to engage in bad discriminatory practices. The MCAT does not test anything and has no coorelation whatsoever to medical education. The second issue is with the pre-med curriculum at many undergrad colleges. Why are students mandated to take physics and O.Chem but not required to take anatomy & physiology, and microbiology. We all know that Physics and O.chem has little to no medical relevance to medicine.

As you are aware by now…..most students transfer from their foriegn medical schools in to some but not all U.S medical schools provided that they have a good USMLE score, which is by far a much better determinant of medical knowledge. We all know that those who transfered never took the MCAT rather they took more reasonable and rigorous medical courses while they were even in high school.

So what is my point exactly??? The medical admission’s committee should follow the concept of specialization…what does that mean? it means that if one has made the conscious decision to go medical school, they should start early to acquire more medical knowledge and apply them in their everyday lives. I.e most medical schools in each state must and should have articulation agreements with all the 4-year and 2-year colleges and universities in their respective states. An entirely new curriculum should be designed for pre-med; one that does not require phyisics (only recomends it ), one that does not require O.Chem (only recomends it) for a sample curriculum please see below:

4- Year Curriculum for Preliminary Medical Studies:

1st Year Curriculum
Semester 1
Egl 101
Gen Bio 1
G.Chem 1
Acid Base Chemistry I
Psychology

Semester 2
Egl 102
Gen. Bio II
G.Chem II
Acid Base Chem II
Basic Anatomy I
Principles of Physiology I

Year 2

Semester 1 (Spring)
Acid Base Chem II
Basic Anatomy II
Principles of Physiology II
Genetics I
Fundamental of Microbiology I

Semester 2
Basic Anatomy III
Principles of Physiolgy III
Genetics II
Fundamental of Microbiology II

Year 3

Semester I
Basic Pharmacology I
Fundamentals of Pathology I
Medical Ethics I
Electives

Semester II
Basic Pharmacology II
Fundamentals of Pathology II
Medical Ethics II
Electives

Year 4
Semester 1
Family Practice Shadowing _4wks
Emergency Medicine Shadowing _4wks
Surgery Shadowing _4wks
Elective Shadowing (ortho, neuro, ob/gyn, caridio etc)_4wks

Semester 2
Mandatory Research at selected medical facilities_8wks
Mandatory Review course for exit exam _8wks

At the end of the 4th year, student should be required to sit for an exit exam called United States Preliminary Medical Science Exam (USPMSE) and not the MCAT..

The USPMSE will consist of 360 questions divided in 6 blocks (60 questions per block) as follows:

Block 1
Gen. Biology-30 questions
G. Chem-30 questions

Block 2
Anatomy-60 questions

Block 3
Physiology-60 questions

Block 4
Microbiology-30 questions
Genetics- 30 questions

Block 5
Pharmacology-30 questions
Pathology-30 questions

Block 6
Psychology-30 questions
Medical ethics-30 questions

JSMD, as you can see I have thoroughly thought about the whole pre-med curriculum, the whole medical school application and admission’s process; I must tell you that I am not just dishing out criticism, but I am also proposing solutions as you can see above. You are welcomed to carefully study it , and make a few changes where necessary.. it may not be perfect but it is a start.

But if you still think the STATUS QUO should remain then you must be one blind colleague (respectfully speaking).

Specialization is the key.. There is not enough time in medical school to become a highly competent and to have a profound and seasoned intelect about medical concepts. That is why we (those who want to go into medicine) should start very early. Our minds are malleable and shows a high degree of plasticity when we are young…we must take advantage of that at a young age to specialize in a profession… this same approach is applicable in other professions; i.e if you wan to be a lawyer, you should start early while in high school. There is no time to fool around taking liberal arts or stupid classes that you don’t need. We should all think about long term. I am sure that many people are already thinking about the long term; its just that admission committees around the country have for some unknown reason refused to come to terms with what to do to improve medical education in this country. If u are gonna test ones knowledge, then test the relevant topics and concepts not some stupid MCAT.

The sad truth is that most medical admission committee reject students because they fear that their will be surpplus number of doctors (if they accept or create other reasonable pathways to medical schools) who will earn good living and will be immune to the discriminatory practices of the federal government, banks, and political organizations. In other words, more doctors means—->more wealthy individuals (upper/middle class individuals) which in turn means——–> lesser number of people that the banks will prey upon, it also means——> less number of people that will ever depend of government subsides——-> which translates into higher number of individuals who will vote with good and quality conscience without being threatened by their members of congress that they will cut government subsidies. I know that many people are aware of this but have refused to muster up the CAHONA to speak truth to power, to tell it like it is without be afraid that people might label him/her a conspiracy theorist.

Admission and rejection processes inmost institutions not just medicine but all other disciplines (law, medicine, art, engineering etc) are appalling and disgraceful to say the least.

It does not surprise me that most of these WALLSTREET FAT CATS AND MONEYBAGS (most of whom are drop-outs or have been rejected during the course of their education) continue to be greedy. If the so called institutions (including the government) does not provide a leveled plain field for people to have access to good education, then most folks may result to achieving goals by other means—be it lobyist for health insurance companies, pharmaceutical industries, and other WALL STREET MONEYBAGS.

the consequences of continuing the STATUS QUO and the discriminatory practices that medical admission’s committee indulge in are far more greater than the benefits of accepting a select few. (most medical schools each accept apox 13,000 applications and after interview, they accept <130 students knowing fully well that 80% of these students will retire in <15yrs after residency or will look for another profession……that is why when u turn on ur TV u hear the false cry in the media about the shortage of physician…this is laughable to say the least. Instead of doing the hardwork of fixing this very pressing problem, most medical institutions resulted in creating HALF-BAKED programs such as PA, NPs, Anesthesiologist Assistants and other similar allied health professions. (btw noting agains PAs, NPs am just debating the policies) these programs were created so that they can do the so-called dirty jobs and still get paid for less…..Guess what happened!!!! reality set in and individuals in these half-baked programs are now demanding that they get paid more, they are also specializing and moving into private practices with other specialized physicians. Why would a PA accept a $65, 000 salary as a family practice PA knowing fully well that he or she can join a cardiology practice or a neurosurgery practice and make between $90,000-$150,000 per year. This goes to show that this big issue cannot be circumvented rather the policy makers at various medical institution should comeback to the drawing board and fix this problem starting with the undergrad colleges and pre-med curriculum, and admission requirement…As they do this they must always incorprate the concept to SPECIALIZATION…That is exactly what Britain, Australia and India are all doing. No wonder why these countries have highly knowledgeable physicians who can and will forever be far better than physician in this country of ours.

AMERICA is rapidly dwindling into abject failure when it comes to medical education….I wonder what's next.

However, I remain optimistic that it can and will be fixed. But first we must start by seriously evaluating the medical school admission's process and the pre-med curriculum. The curriculm that I stated above is light years ahead of what it is now. It has all the bells and whistles namely, SPECIALIZATION, BASIC MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, VOLUNTEERISM, SHADOWING, AND GOOD MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE ASSESMENT (via USPMSE).

Anyway, I know I have spoken a lot, bear with me because I have done a 2-year extensive research about this very issue and have come to resounding conclusion so I consider myself well informed. Anyone who tries to deny the truth in my finding and most of my opinions do so at their own peril. My comments and opinion should not be viewed as an insult to anyone rather it is a debate that I welcome you all to join and lets have an intellectual and respectful discussion on this issue.

Enough said…….Black Lung

OMM/OMT FTW.

FOR THE WIN

AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A DOCTOR?

ARTICLE: FAIL
EMBARRASSMENT: WIN

So, basically, what you’re saying is: I’m sorry for this hack job of an article because I only turned to limited, biased sources, based on my own biases, that were so easy to find that a trained chimp would have a hard time avoiding them, and didn’t really treat this issue with the depth of study and the integrity that it deserves. Further, I am so clueless that I actually think that the AAMC is an accrediting body.

“In 2006, Bush’s proposed budget cut about 4 percent from the NHSC (this cut went through). In 2007, the proposed funding was flat. For 2008, Bush’s proposed budget called for an addition $10 million to be cut, a 7.2% decrease. So the budget for the NHSC, directly due to cuts proposed by our President, has been decreased sigificantly, despite our primary care shortage. I do not exempt the Congress from blame for allowing these cuts to go through.”

So, basically, what you are saying is: You’re right, Scott, I really don’t understand the United States Government and how it works and doesn’t work. That there are three coequal branches, and that there is separation of powers that defines the responsibilities and powers of each. Here, I will prove it. Even further, I will demonstrate that I don’t understand big complicated words like baseline budgeting, or even anything about economics, for that matter, such as the fact that money is not in unlimited supply, the government gets their money from us, there are other things the government is obligated to pay for and other interest groups whine louder than healthcare much of the time.