The session explored the scope of medical faculty’s responsibility to society beyond the traditional roles of teaching and practicing medicine. Participants approached the subject by first examining the major strides and setbacks in human history, how these have come to frame our current social order, and how they might lead to its breakdown. A discussion of whom medical faculty interact with served as the basis for identifying the positive contribution they might make to society beyond the teaching and practice of medicine. Participants agreed that faculty should strive to embody the attributes they wish to see in others. The session began with a discussion of major human advances. Participants identified the following as noteworthy developments: introduction of clean water; advances in public health; equal justice; respect for human dignity and women; regard for earth’s resources; mass communication; public education; the virtual end of slavery; the importance of family and community; and volunteerism. Asked to identify the main problems confronting society today, participants mentioned oppression, rooted in zealotry, fundamentalism, and fanaticism; poverty; the unequal distribution of resources; warfare and violent conflict; terrorism; and selfishness. The session then turned to a consideration of the responsibilities of other social groups in alleviating these problems and how medical faculty might best contribute to a stable social order. There was general agreement that medical faculty, as care-givers and teachers of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations, were ideally placed to take measures to strengthen civic society. In the field of medical education, participants emphasized the need for competences beyond the basic sciences, calling for the integration of the social sciences and the humanities into the teaching of the basic sciences. Recognizing the need to develop in every medical student an understanding of the patient as a human being, participants stressed the importance of community outreach clerkships in the first two years of medical school. The teaching of ethics and moral reasoning could be integrated into the teaching of science, rather than offered as separate courses. Above all, participants agreed that medical faculty ought to serve as role models for students and patients alike. Recommendations: In light of the above, participants formulated the following recommendations for consideration by the IAMSE: 1. IAMSE could identify roles for medical faculty that extend beyond their traditional roles as care-givers and teachers of medicine. 2. IAMSE could facilitate faculty development through exchange programs that would:
3. IAMSE could seek to introduce programs that foster moral reasoning and a commitment to the welfare of medically underserved and ethnically diverse populations. 4. IAMSE could address the issue of introducing social responsibility within the curriculum and bringing into the classroom the living world of the patient. **** **** ****
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