Abstract

In the United States, adequate attention has not been given to emphasizing public health and preventive medicine in undergraduate medical education, despite well-meaning efforts on the part of some dedicated individuals. Although most medical schools recognize the importance of exposure to these fundamental elements of clinical care of the population during the education and training of future physicians, the basic building blocks of medical knowledge (anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology) and the acute care of patients fill and constrain the educational curriculum.¹ To keep patients healthy, rather than just focusing on making them well, medical students must learn, through a variety of pedagogical methods, the value of teaching preventive health care and health promotion to their future patients. In this issue, Wright et al present the perspective that a medical student who becomes more aware of his or her own physical health and how to maintain good health and fitness will be a more effective physician in working to prevent illness as part of his or her care of patients.² This premise is clearly sensible, and although the physical fitness of a medical student may not correlate completely with his or her capability to counsel patients in preventive health care, it seems logical that a healthy and fit medical student would be more personally, and thus professionally, aware of such benefits.