Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Yes, I know this is a bit of a hot take.
There's a big difference between the curricular time spent on various topics during the first two years of med school, and how important they are in later practice (e.g. communication). While one could argue that the 3rd and 4th years of med school are for learning communication skills, these are rarely if ever formally taught or assessed once students start their clinical rotations. We're incrementally doing better though - schools now spend an order of magnitude more on communication skills than they did when I was a student 25 years ago. I also believe med schools are doing better during the admissions process to preferentially offer spots to students with strong interpersonal skills. But it's all still not enough. This is particularly true as AI will soon offload some of the more cognitively intense work of a physician, increasing the relative importance of our role as empathetic communicators.
Unfortunately, much of the blame lies on the LCME and USMLE. The LCME (i.e. the organization responsible for medical school accreditation) could choose to require school curricula to place greater emphasis on communication and team management skills. It's also hard to convince schools to increase the focus on these when the USMLE (i.e. the medical boards) no longer test them! For what it's worth, although the USMLE ended the Step 2 CS exam in 2021 (i.e. the one standardized exam that actually included patient interactions), all med schools in my state of California administer the standardized CPX exam in its place.
#clnicalskills #medicalschool #shorts
Yes, I know this is a bit of a hot take.
There's a big difference between the curricular time spent on various topics during the first two years of med school, and how important they are in later practice (e.g. communication). While one could argue that the 3rd and 4th years of med school are for learning communication skills, these are rarely if ever formally taught or assessed once students start their clinical rotations. We're incrementally doing better though - schools now spend an order of magnitude more on communication skills than they did when I was a student 25 years ago. I also believe med schools are doing better during the admissions process to preferentially offer spots to students with strong interpersonal skills. But it's all still not enough. This is particularly true as AI will soon offload some of the more cognitively intense work of a physician, increasing the relative importance of our role as empathetic communicators.
Unfortunately, much of the blame lies on the LCME and USMLE. The LCME (i.e. the organization responsible for medical school accreditation) could choose to require school curricula to place greater emphasis on communication and team management skills. It's also hard to convince schools to increase the focus on these when the USMLE (i.e. the medical boards) no longer test them! For what it's worth, although the USMLE ended the Step 2 CS exam in 2021 (i.e. the one standardized exam that actually included patient interactions), all med schools in my state of California administer the standardized CPX exam in its place.
#clnicalskills #medicalschool #shorts
