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This monograph attempts to present the problems associated with British medical education and to unify the approach to curriculum changes based on the premise: "all... variations on the theme of medical education derive from the same basic idea, and most differences between the systems are due to differences in the way... these ideas are translated into action."
The title of the book, Basic Medical Education, was taken from the term applied by the British General Medical Council to the preclinical (basic science), clinical, and preregistration years of British medical schools. However, this is misleading since most of the book is spent discussing the problems and changes associated with the preclinical years. This might be expected since the author is Regius Professor of Anatomy at Aberdeen.
The beginning of the book is devoted to a history of British medical education from the 16th century to the present. It is interesting that