Faculty Opinion on Changes in Medical Education

To the Editor.—  A one-page questionnaire was sent to 248 heads of departments of medicine, pediatrics, and surgery in 73 medical schools in operation for ten years or longer; 220 or 89% responded.The first question was whether the department chairman and his colleagues were well satisfied, reasonably well satisfied, or definitely dissatisfied with the basic science preparation of their students. The second was whether there had been improvement, deterioration, or no change in student preparation for clinical studies over the past ten years. The final question asked whether the change was due to more effective or less effective preclinical science instruction, or to changed student attitude, deterioration or improvement (Table).Relatively small numbers, 13% and 14%, respectively, of respondees said they were either well satisfied or definitely dissatisfied. Among those who indicated a change in satisfaction and were reasonably well satisfied, a majority indicated that it was in the