Challenge and change in medical education

The concept of clinical skills centres for medical education has arisen out of the acknowledgment that traditional methods of training doctors failed to ensure sufficiently high standards of clinical performance. The skills a doctor needs to master include not only routine medical procedures such as taking blood pressure or treating a wound but also communication skills. The aim of clinical skills centres is to provide for medical students an environment in which they can learn all the required practical skills in settings resembling real life situations as closely as possible without causing inconvenience to actual patients.

This paper examines the theory underpinning the recent development of clinical skills centres, explains new practices in medical education, and explores ways in which these centres can be further developed worldwide to meet society's need to train increasing numbers of highly competent doctors for the new century.