Unfortunately, a lack of uniformity prevails in the use of such terms as graduate medical education, post-graduate medical instruction and continuation study. Various organizations have attempted to formulate definitions applicable to the specific circumstances with which they were concerned. Since 1937 the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals has been engaged in a study of graduate medical education particularly as it applies to courses for practicing physicians. To facilitate this survey, an attempt is being made to formulate suitable terminology which may be acceptable to those interested.
Graduate medical education in the broad sense covers all types of instruction which follow the award of the M.D. degree. In a more restricted sense, however, the term applies to well organized, systematic, scientific and clinical instruction planned for the benefit of the student under the supervision of a medical school, hospital or other educational institution. It may or may not lead to