Medical education reforms in China

Julio Frenk and colleagues1Frenk J Chen LC Chandran L et al.Challenges and opportunities for educating health professionals after the COVID-19 pandemic.Lancet. 2022; 400: 1539-1556Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (20) Google Scholar put forward education for life as a guiding principle for health-professional education after the COVID-19 pandemic. We concur with the need for a radical rethink of medical education systems worldwide, and would like to share responses and reflections from China at a time that coincides with the 110th anniversary of the Peking University Health Science Center (PUHSC; figure). First, medical universities should strengthen the translation of medical innovations into national policies and clinical practices. Since its founding on Oct 26, 1912, as the first government-run modern medical school in China, PUHSC has been practising this principle. The first president, Erhe Tang, composed the Norms of Anatomy, which was promulgated as China's first law for modern medicine. Modern medical education has also brought scientific reflection and methods into Chinese traditional medicine. The most notable example is the discovery of artemisinin,2Ma N Zhang Z Liao F Jiang T Tu Y The birth of artemisinin.Pharmacol Ther. 2020; 216107658Crossref Scopus (98) Google Scholar led by Youyou Tu, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015. In the past 10 years, to further accelerate the translation of medical innovations, PUHSC has established several university–government joint platforms, such as the National Centers for Clinical Research and for Health Care Quality Management. Additionally, numerous university–industry innovation platforms have been established together with biotech, IT, or medical device companies. An independent monitoring board for industry-funded research, whose members include all stakeholders (ie, university managers, researchers, health professionals, patients, and experts in law and ethics), was set up to oversee and report on any potential interference from funders with science integrity and premature translation of research results.3Caulfield T Ogbogu U The commercialization of university-based research: balancing risks and benefits.BMC Med Ethics. 2015; 16: 70Crossref PubMed Scopus (41) Google Scholar Second, global health in medical education should be more prominent, with China's increasing engagement in global governance. Since PUHSC established the country's first global health institution in 2007, it has transitioned from learning established protocols to generating China's own global health strategies. It is now acting as a think tank for the government's policy decisions on health cooperation in Asia and Africa. In 2019, PUHSC spearheaded the inception of China–ASEAN University Consortium on Medicine and Health, consisting of 22 universities from ASEAN and 21 universities from China, to advance collaboration in medical education and research in these regions and globally. On this basis, in 2022, China–ASEAN Public Health Science and Technology Cooperation Center was launched to further advance collaboration in public health. However, barriers still remain in such multilateral partnership due to the lack of experienced faculties and researchers, funding sources, or knowledge of local context.4Kwete X Tang K Cheng F et al.Research capacity of global health institutions in China: a gap analysis focusing on their collaboration with other low-income and middle-income countries.BMJ Glob Health. 2021; 6e005607Crossref PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar The government should provide more political support and financial investment for improving the overall capability of global health cooperation in medical education, research, and care services. Third, humanity should always be emphasised as a core value for health professionals, especially in the era of population ageing and emerging infectious diseases. Narrative medicine and communication skills have been recommended as vital curriculum modules for health-care students and professionals, but the addition of liberal arts courses to the already dense timetables of current curricula might prove difficult. PUHSC has undertaken a reform to integrate humanities education into the campus ecosystem through the reconstruction of the campus facilities. For example, the library has been equipped with both up-to-date IT and logistics technology and the university's historical materials of scientific, cultural, or aesthetic significance. Such combination of modern technology and traditional cultural assets could serve as an impetus for students to learn scientific knowledge, health professionalism, and social responsibility in medicine. 2022 is a critical moment for China to fulfil its advocacy for deepening social reforms and globalisation. We hope to use the 110th anniversary of PUHSC as a means to sharpen the future of medical education reforms in China. The pivotal vision should be to reinforce partnership across borders, cultures, and disciplines between China and the rest of the world. We declare no competing interests. Challenges and opportunities for educating health professionals after the COVID-19 pandemicThe education of health professionals substantially changed before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2010 Lancet Commission examined the 100-year history of health-professional education, beginning with the 1910 Flexner report. Since the publication of the Lancet Commission, several transformative developments have happened, including in competency-based education, interprofessional education, and the large-scale application of information technology to education. Although the COVID-19 pandemic did not initiate these developments, it increased their implementation, and they are likely to have a long-term effect on health-professional education. Full-Text PDF