Medical education in Greece: Necessary reforms need to be re-considered

Abstract

For the past years, and even more now with the major challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are faced with the inadequacies that undermine the healthcare system in Greece. As healthcare system performance and medical education are directly and reciprocally linked, a substantial part of healthcare services’ dysfunctions could be partially attributed to the training of the young doctors. Thus, in order to improve the performance of the healthcare system in the best interest of patients and communities, the education of healthcare personnel should be a priority. By reviewing the existing literature in combination with our experience we attempt to delineate the weak points of the undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Greece. Additionally, based on medical curricula from other countries, we suggest reforms in order to achieve a uniform, clinically oriented, emphasis on training in public health issues in undergraduate medical education. Reforms are also suggested for postgraduate training with regard not only to specialization curricula, but also to the accredited institutions which provide specialty training. Finally, the necessity for Continuing Medical Education (CME) is underlined; medical education must have a continuum that begins with undergraduate training but does not end there; it is life-long learning.

Keywords:

• Curriculum infrastructure
• medical education reforms
• Greece
• primary health care education
• medical specialty training

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ilir I. Cinoku

Ilir Cinoku, MD with honors (2018), from the Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece. He is currently performing PhD, supported by a competitive scholarship from Athens Academy.

Evangelia Zampeli

Evangelia Zampeli, MD, PhD, has served as a post-doctoral and academic Associate in the Medical School of Athens, Greece. She is now a Consultant Rheumatology in Bioclinic, Athens Greece and a Member of the Institute of systemic autoimmune and neurologic diseases. Her research interests concentrate in clinical aspects of autoimmune diseases.

Haralampos M. Moutsopoulos

Haralampos M. Moutsopoulos, MD, FACP, FRCP(hc), Master ACR Member of Athens Academy is an expert of autoimmune disorders. His scientific work is highly cited (>50,000h factor >110) and has been granted numerous international and National awards. He has repeatedly written articles suggesting reforms of the Medical education in Greece.