ENT teaching

Abstract

All medical schools include undergraduate ENT teaching, but the time allocated is short and the acquisition of practical skills may suffer. Efficiency is essential, particularly with regard to those destined for general practice, where 10-30% of the workload concerns the upper respiratory tract. The students at the Leeds Medical School, during 1 academic year, were surveyed by questionnaire on various aspects of their ENT course. Criticisms and suggestions for improvement were also invited. The results suggested the lecture course should not change but the time spent in operating theatres could be reduced in favour of more time in the outpatient clinics with a greater emphasis on practical skills. This discussion was then extended to consider what an ENT course should include and whether it could be integrated, in some way, with postgraduate education.