Formation and Medicine: The transition from anatomical-clinical model French to American biomedical model in Colombia

Abstract

Medical education in Colombia underwent a transition from a French model based on anatomical and clinical mentality, towards the North American model based on a biomedical laboratory vision. This research addresses, from a hermeneutical and historical perspective, the meaning of this transformation and of its effects on the training of physicians, and on the teaching and practice of medicine in our country. The period from 1930 to 1965 in the Universidad Nacional and the Universidad del Valle was studied, through an archival work of regulations, curriculum and syllabus. The starting point was the socio-political context at that time in order to understand the meaning of that transition within the framework of the increasing influence of the United States on different spheres of national life. Some visits from American experts laid the foundations for curricular changes which lead to a modification in medical thinking in Colombia. Also, evidence was found of the transformation from a more formative and cultural teaching model to one of mere technical  training. The implications of these changes are discussed.