Reply #2: As somebody who had to deal with those med students [View All]

during their three month stints at Boston teaching hospitals, I can only say WOO HOO!!! It's about bloody time.

They will have a much better grasp of what's facing their patients when they come back into those hospitals as interns the following year, and that will improve patient care at teaching hospitals dramatically while lowering the burden on nurses who often feel compelled to point out the obvious to baby docs who don't have a clue.

This new practice of having them follow patients for an entire year is a great one. I had a similar experience my last year of nursing school, following a head injured patient from trauma intensive care through the stepdown unit and on into rehab. It was a valuable experience that few of my classmates had, and that one patient taught me more than any other I cared for while I was in school. I'm sure it'll do the same to Harvard's med students.