The Medical Education of Generation Y

Medical schools face challenges preparing students to meet evolving health-care needs in society. However, little has changed in the way that education is delivered to aspiring health professionals [1]. The in-class lectures continuing in the majority of classrooms across the country do not acknowledge the unique proclivities of the current crop of medical students. An explanation of this observation is gleaned by understanding the fundamental attributes of the current generation of medical trainees. Educational research in schools outside of medicine demonstrates that students with different learner characteristics will value instructional measures in relation to the way they suit their own habits, ideas, and preferences of learning well [2]. To be effective, teaching styles have to take into account learning styles [3]. Therefore, instructional measures should address learner beliefs to improve the quality of student learning [2]. Our paper responds to the need to examine the impact of social and motivational variables in learning. Specially, we sought to understand the implications of generational differences in medical education, and how medical education can consciously evolve to accommodate the learning styles of current trainees.