Older, artier, and better rounded applicants, with at least one year's work experience would make better medical students and happier doctors, suggests a leading educationalist philosopher in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Dr Christopher Cowley, of the School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice at the University of East Anglia, sets out five new admission criteria to select the most suitable candidates for a career in medicine.
He contends that these would ensure that students would not only be technically proficient, but also more capable of understanding both themselves and patients better. This in turn would make them better doctors and help them to enjoy their jobs more, he says.
He proposes:
Dr Cowley says that medical schools have come a long way towards improving curriculum content, but it is not clear what further improvements can be made with "the raw materials at hand."
He concludes: "The 18 year old pure science pupil is no longer suitable for medicine."
Journal of Medical Ethics