Hebrew University med. students to train in Clalit clinics

The initiative is the first in Israel to expose students who have completed a few years of theoretical studies in a medical school to get practical training outside a hospital.

By JUDY SIEGEL
hospital doctors health 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file[)
hospital doctors health 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file[)
Medicine can be learned not only in hospitals – where space for clinical teaching is currently at a premium – but also largely in community health fund clinics.
An agreement by the Hebrew University, the Hadassah Medical Organization and Clalit Health Services, which will be signed on Monday, will launch a new era of medical teaching in health fund facilities.
The initiative is the first in Israel to expose students who have completed a few years of theoretical studies in a medical school to get practical training outside a hospital. In the past, health fund clinics were regarded as a “less prestigious” place to study clinical cases than in the hospitals.
This is a “revolution in the clinical education of medical students” here, HU medical faculty dean Prof. Eran Leitersdorf said on Sunday.
“Until today, almost all clinical studies took place at Hadassah and hospitals associated with Hadassah and the Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School, and within this framework, students were introduced relatively little to community medicine,” Leitersdorf said.
“The community studies will contribute to the education of a generation of young doctors who will acquire a deep knowledge of the principles of ongoing treatment, treatment of grave and chronic illnesses and the application of the principles of preventive medicine.”
He added that “today, almost half of the medical treatment in Israel is carried out in the community to a high standard of criteria, and therefore the need for education of our students in this framework is very important.”
According to the agreement, half of Clalit’s clinics in the Jerusalem area will become academic clinics and be associated with the medical school. They will receive students in the program, and some of the clinic doctors will receive HU academic appointments.
HU rector Prof. Sarah Stroumsa Leitersdorf, Hadassah Medical Organization director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef and Clalit Jerusalem director Prof. Yosef Frost will be among those attending the ceremony at Hadassah’s campus in Ein Kerem.