What are standards like in medical schools?

Question

Do people merely try to "pass" ? I hear doctors who simply passed and nurses too, with "C"s. How true are these rumors? I am sure there must be excellent students in medical schools?

If this is so, is this going to lead to safe practice and how are patients supposed to have faith in doctors or nurses? or even PAs or pharmacists? ...IF this indeed is true.

Answer 1

Medical school are NOT pass/fail. We got A's and B's like every other school! After getting A's easily in college with little effort, my only C EVER was in biochemistry in medical school. (I still hate biochem) A C in medical school is still much harder to achieve than an A in a lot of colleges.

You have to realize that medical schools are filled with people who have gotten EXCELLENT grades since they were tiny. Medical school curriculum is tough - lots of information to absorb in a very short time. Medical students are not slackers, otherwise, they wouldn't be in medical school.

Medical school is very competitive to get into, and once you are admitted, they make every effort to see that you learn the material and do well. I know of one guy from my class who didn't graduate, and another few who took an extra year to get through.

Accredited US medical schools have high standards, not only academically, but ethically as well.

Patients don't have faith in doctors now. They think we know nothing when we tell them to quit smoking, then come crying to us when they grow a tumor. That has nothing to so with grades in medical school. Now I'm starting to rant, so I'll quit :)

Answer 2

At my school, the medical college is on a pass/fail system. To pass, you must be within one or two, I don't remember, standard deviation of the average. Most medical schools are pass/fail because they want to decrease the stress.
I am a pharmacy student. To continue on, you need to keep a GPA of 2.0.
You build faith by building a rapport with your health professional. Get to know your pharmacist, MD, RN, etc. Grades aren't everything. Some of the best pharmacists I've met, have told me that they were not the best students, but they were able to take away all that they had learned and apply it well.

Answer 3

Pharmacy school was not pass/fail. But I've never had a patient ask for my transcripts either.

You don't get to choose your nurse, and have limited choice with doctors. Pharmacists and pharmacies are full of choices. With most patients they don't have faith in me nor do they lack it. They just want to get their medicines and a little information to go with it.

Faith develops over time, with questions asked and answered, and problems solved.

Answer 4

This entire quandary is annoying. The left wing would possibly not recognize approximately it since the left wing media isn't reporting it. You stated FAIL, yep they may be able to move via failing. Scary ha? Obama's pondering is that if now not sufficient of 1 institution does not move a experiment alternatively of bettering schooling for that institution we could simply dumb down the experiment. Hmmmm, that is how he obtained elected anyways, the MTV and American Idol crowd!

Answer 5

Pangolin,

Agree with above assessment and plan!