Worth a glance #16

Neel Sharma: Reforms in medical education—are we missing something? But I think he is wrong on some points. The last thing much of med ed needs, is to ape the ‘Poverty of Trialism’. The search space for med ed is too big, and we are getting confused between science and design. And I really don’t think we have seen much change. Perhaps easier for me to state: I disagree with most of what he says.

What Happened to Educational Television: The Story of ‘The Learning Channel’. This is a great series of articles by Audrey Watters. But amidst the tropes (not that she sees them) about the last great educational tech being either the blackboard or the school bus, tech is going to be the direction of travel, and not just in the private sector [I hope].

Some experiences of life at Imperial College London. There are some updates here for those who have been following the story. It is hard to gauge the minds of some wannabe clinical academics. Many, I suspect are planning careers in which they know they will jump ship to the NHS —whatever they say at interviews for fellowships— but events at Imperial, Warwick, Cardiff and Dundee, suggest to me that the brightest need to go elsewhere.

The trouble with science. Via John Naughton. Yes. And, yes, again.

We need more nurses.. This is about the US, but brings back more unhappy memories of the care my late father received at a leading (sic) UK teaching hospital. We need more nurses, but more importantly, we need to put some trust back in the professional judgment of those on the wards. That of course is why many hospitals are called Trusts: there isn’t any. And, we need much more investigative journalism — it is more likely to change things than academic research.

The doctor shortage. US style. From the AAMC: you are warned.