The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-16


 welt party.
 MEDICAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE
 The Carnegie Foundation for the Ad- vaneement of Teachers has just issued its second bulletin on medical educa- tion. this time dealing with conditions found in Europe. This report, similar to the one issued two years ago. Is based on investigations made by Mir Abraham Flexner for the foundation. The report confirms the statements made by The Journal of the American Medical association four years ago. that the medical schools in this country are backward not only in the matter of preliminary education but also In the | length of the medical course.
 No other country was found to have conditions so bad as those found in the United States, or as President Pritchett expresses it, scandals in medical edu- cation exist in America alone" Again, mo medical school that lacks proper facilities has any other motive than the selfish advantage of those that carry 1t on; and no civilized country except America at this day allows such enterprises to impose on the public" The report furnishes a definite reply to the worn-out argument that cheap schools are needed to furnish doctors for sparsely settled districts of the country. It Is stated that no physician. whether he be poorly equipped or well equipped. will seek location where a | livelihood cannot be gained. On the other hand, it was shown that well educated physicians will often prefer the sparsely settled districts If the means of a livelihood are to be obtained there In other words, the experience of Germany shows that the distribution of physicians does not depend on a | low standard of education. The report also brings out the fact that sectarian medicine Is practically unknown in Eu- rope and that this is the only country 1 in which educational institutions pro- fessing to teach sectarian medicine are to be found.
 This report on medical education abroad comes at an opportune time We are In the midst of a period of rapid development of medical education and this report based on the investigation of European medical schools, made at first hand, will be a great help in the solution of many of our problems. AL though, by contrast with medical edu- A. 1afA In conditions in this country, the many improvements already brought about leave no ground for Encouragement. It must not be forgotten that although the determined movement for better medical education in this country be- gan only about eight years ago, aston ishing progress has been made since that time. Our vast oversupply of inferior medical schools is rapidly be- medical schools in the United States in 19O4--nearly half of the worlds supply-now there are only 11S. On the other hand, the number of colleges which have high standards for admis- sion and which are equipped to do good work is rapidly increasing Instead of only three in 1904 there are now 46 which are requiring one or more years of collegiate work for admission. Again state licensing boards are rapidly i'm proving their standards and strength ening their examinations, which Is help | ing to solve the problem. From pres- ent indications, therefore, it will need only few more years to bring the ma iority of our medical schools both in their requirements of preliminary edu- cation and in the quality of their teach ing up to point that will compare quite favorably with the standards up- l held in other civilized countries.