The first major revision of the Medical College Admission Test in 25 years has been announced, and it promises to be a wonderful new experience and aid in selecting the Doctors of the Future.
The number of questions is up from 144 to 230 and exam time increased from a little over 4 hours to about 7 1/2 hours. The key though is less emphasis on science and more on sociology.
*“One hundred years ago, all you really needed to know was the science”…said (UCSF vice dean) Catherine Lucey…“Now we have problems like obesity and diabetes that require doctors to form therapeutic alliances with patients and convince them to change their lifestyle.”
To that end, a large new section - one quarter of the test - covers psychology, sociology and biological foundations of behavior. Official review material includes concepts such as social inequality, class consciousness, racial and ethnic identity, “institutionalized racism and discrimination” and “power, privilege and prestige.”*
It’ll be such a relief when these new docs hit the streets. No longer will I have to endure physicians who merely do exams, order tests and fill prescriptions for drugs. Emphasis on this traditional crap will be lessened, as they counsel patients on lifestyle changes (no physician ever did this before), and more importantly, recognize the ethnic, sociologic and power structure elements that lead to angina, pneumonia and hemorrhoids. To make things easier, I can envision a set of questions they will pull up on their laptops, which must be answered and an online form completed before federal reimbursement can be considered.
A brave new world is coming…
