A clinical approach to population medicine.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: An epidemic of chronic disease in an ageing population obliges us to train medical students to participate in patient and population-centred health systems as members of connected teams with the skills to work in an increasingly pluralistic cultural environment. CONTEXT: Like many others, the graduate-entry Sydney Medical Program struggles with teaching population medicine to students who often perceive it to be less relevant than clinical studies. Evaluation found that although students were aware of the importance of population medicine to clinical practice, they felt the existing programme lacked integration with their clinical education and did not develop professional skills..