The training of doctors today: Challenges and realities

Having closely monitored the need for doctors to adapt to new situations and address the changes under way in the health sector, faculties of medicine have begun to renew their curricula. The new curriculum and pedagogical innovations introduced have, nonetheless, instigated some resistance. Part of the solution to this problem may lie in the pedagogical training of the teachers to support them in their choice and use of a variety of flexible pedagogical approaches. As far as the teachers of faculties of medicine are concerned, the of the education departments as an instrument of support during this period of change has come to be broadly acknowledged.This article reflects on this issue and is structured around three main conceptual strands: the need to provide future doctors with a type of training that will address the new challenges of modern society; the main concepts of current faculties of medicine curricula, particularly in Europe and America; the contribution of medical education departments (MED) to this renovation process within medical schools, based on our experience in the MED of the Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCM) and our work there.