Do medical schools’ curricula place enough emphasis on translational research?
Evidence based medicine is at the core of modern medical practice. Although institutions such as the Cochrane Collaboration and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produce guidelines on best practice, clinicians should have the confidence to weigh and interpret research findings and their application.
Despite this, in recent years there has been a shift in many medical schools towards more clinically-oriented training, which values early patient contact and clinical experience over the traditional medical sciences and research fluency. The selection of candidates for medical school has also shifted to emphasise empathy and social skills over scientific ability. In a medical school interview today, you are more likely to be asked about how you would approach an upset shop customer than your knowledge of the Krebs cycle. Empathy is crucial to good medical practice and this emphasis rightly selects and trains more personable and approachable clinicians. However, it may also reduce confidence in the basic science on which much traditional research is based and discourage medical students from getting involved in research or considering an academic career component.
Translational research links basic science findings to developments at the bedside. Teaching medical students about translational research and encouraging their participation in research projects which are relevant to clinical practice could bridge the gap between medical students and the science that their practice is based upon. In partnership with patients, clinician-academics can help direct research in clinically-important directions. Even for those who do not have any academic component to their career, the confidence to interpret the quality and validity of evidence for treatments will produce better-rounded clinicians.
The General Medical Council requires graduates to be a “scholar and a scientist” with the ability to “apply scientific method and approaches to medical research” [1]. However, a 2010 survey at University College Cork, Ireland found medical undergraduates had a poor understanding of translational research and perceived clinical academics as being isolated from patients [2], despite the many opportunities for patient-facing research.
It is therefore important for those who wish to promote research among medical undergraduates to widen the perception of research beyond what occurs in the lab and demonstrate that wherever your interests lie on the spectrum of bench to bedside, translational research offers the chance to make positive changes to clinical practice.
1. General Medical Council UK. Tomorrow's Doctors, outcomes and standards for undergraduate medical education. 2009.
2. Burgoyne LN, Flynn S, Boylan GB. Undergraduate medical research: the student perspective. 2010. 2010;15.
