ABSTRACT
While governments and medical regulatory authorities bear administrative authority for medical services, other agencies are responsible for developing the education, training, and credentialing system that prepares physicians for practice. In this chapter, the authors focus on the role and function of the latter agencies. They outline their strengths and weaknesses in building an education and training infrastructure that supports a responsive healthcare system from a Canadian perspective. The authors provide an overview of the complimentary and converging roles of key organizations and sectors. They examine the premise that medical education and training are guided by an overarching commitment to social accountability. In Canada, new consensus statements on undergraduate and postgraduate medical education identify social accountability as a core value. Interprofessional teams become the prevailing healthcare funding model in Canada, considerable effort would have to be put into restructuring healthcare education and training.
