Medical education at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Educating the educators to give lessons in life long learning.

With the exponential growth in medical knowledge and technology in addition to changing health delivery, medical school educators are faced with the enormous challenge of how to best equip students with the knowledge base and skills required on graduation. This is not only an issue for medical schools but also bodies concerned with specialist training. The UNSW Faculty of Medicine introduced its new six-year modular program in 2004. The entry selection criteria also changed. Local students are now selected on the basis of; academic merit, Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT) and interview. The explicit aim is to graduate lifelong learners of medicine. The UNSW program is integrated horizontally and vertically for greater correlation between science and clinical practice. All courses are interdisciplinary. Biomedical sciences are taught with the social and psychological sciences. The program is divided into 3 phases, organized broadly around the human life cycle. Teaching emphasises student autonomy, learning from experience and the development of adult teacher-learner relationships. Independent learning projects are now an integral part of the program introducing research and challenging old assumptions about student learning by encouraging active participation in the process of study and investigation. Some students will have the opportunity to complete a dermatology rotation, which focuses on core principles reflecting internal medicine. However many future clinicians will be managing patients with a knowledge base of dermatology only from modules from a university website and self directed learning. Doubtless this will be seen as a coming change in referral patterns and management by referring doctors.