The University of Birmingham Medical School and the history of medicine

The story of why and how history was introduced into the curriculum is told and how important it is that tomorrow's doctors know something of the history of the profession they are about to enter.

Abstract

The publication in 1993 by the General Medical Council of Tomorrow's Doctors-Recommendations on Undergraduate Medical Education provided the first real opportunity for many medical schools to advance the introduction of the history of medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum. While the University of Birmingham Medical School, was not one of the first to introduce the subject, it has been at the forefront of the introduction of the history of medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum since 1997, and can now boast a number of special study modules in the subject and the second largest intercalated BMedSc (History of Medicine) degree programme in the country. This article tells the story of why and how we introduced history into the curriculum and how important it is that tomorrow's doctors know something of the history of the profession they are about to enter.