ABSTRACT
Medical schools are not the sole culprits in this respect; it is a pervasive issue throughout academia. There are serious questions as to the effectiveness with which our universities are meeting the real needs of the society that higher education is intended to serve. Although the discussion thus far has focused on financing and organizational factors as the driving forces for change in medical education, there are, in fact, a whole series of other pressures that may be more fundamental and ultimately have more profound effects. Kenneth Shine and Richard Nesson have referred to the growing mismatch for over a decade between the products of our academic medical centers and societal needs. Many techniques that medical schools employ, such as innovative uses of surrogate patients, suggest the possibility of conceptualizing medical education in nontraditional ways.
