The Way We Teach Medical Students Professional Skills

Abstract

This article describes the progressive development of professional skills at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle, Australia's newest medical school. These professional skills include information gathering (history taking and physical examination), information giving (patient information and education, case history write-up and case presentation) and management (counselling and monitoring) skills, as well as interpersonal, interactional and communication skills which are so important in the modern medical environment. The progressive development of these professional skills and their integration with basic, behavioural and clinical sciences in a problem-based curriculum is believed to be a rational approach to the development of an efficient, effective and caring doctor.