1910: The Year American Medicine Changed Forever
.
By Ross Pomeroy - RCP Staff
November 08, 2018
Medical education in the United States is generally regarded to be the finest in the world, and for that, you can thank Abraham Flexner. In 1910, the Louisville native and education reformer published an in-depth, damning, and eye-opening report on the state of American medical schools. In the quarter-century after the Flexner Report's publication, the entire medical profession was dissected, examined, and reforged, transforming from an unregulated free-for-all to an expert, science-based endeavor.
American medical education was in a sorry state in the early 20th century. More than 160 institutions pumped out 4,400 graduates each year, most of whom were woefully undertrained and received uneven instruction. With no agreed upon standards, many schools focused on pseudoscientific fields like electrotherapy, homeopathy, chiropractic, and naturopathy. For a patient seeking medical attention, there was no standard of care, just a daunting morass.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/11/08/1910_the_year_american_medicine_changed_forever.html
