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Although he may occasionally be able to do some editing, messages left for him may not be replied to for a while.
He will be back on Wikipedia when college is over.
Despite general interest in most branches of medicine, one particular field in which I more or less have no interest at all is biochemistry. I intended to discuss either my personal perspective or that shared by the majority of medical students I’ve encountered, until I stumbled across this study,[4] where 317 medical graduates of King’s College London were asked about perceptions of how well their pre-clinical coursework prepared them for the practical realities of medical practice. One specific evaluation point was the perceived accuracy and relevance of the factual content delivered in various core pre-clinical courses.
Not so surprisingly, four out of five doctors (79.5%) reported an overabundance of clinically irrelevant factual biochemistry in their undergraduate medical education, compared to only 9.5% thinking the same about physiology. A 1974 Nuffield Foundation meeting started by saying that "Biochemistry as a subject, was difficult and had little relevance to medicine", and it is irrational to claim that memorizing the arcane details of biochemistry is paramount for effective patient care, ignoring the reality that most of what medical students are taught vanishes into the ether by year three or four.[5]
I remember when I was editing the TRPC6 article (a cation channel present on the surface of many cells in the body), and I read a lot on the role of this channel both physiologically and pathologically. Then, I found an article discussing the structure of this channel. So I dove headfirst, devouring info on its transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. But then, a pesky thought interrupted my scholarly feast: Does any of this actually matter at the level of non-expert medical students? Sadly, the answer seems to be a resounding nada.
What’s the solution, I hear you ask? The solution is for medical school biochemistry departments to reorient their focus towards equipping future doctors rather than solely preparing them for professional biochemistry careers. This necessitates designing the core curriculum around specifically tailored content directly applicable to medical practice.[6]