A basic science education establishes a foundational understanding on which medical practice is, or should be, based. Effective patient care increasingly requires that physicians keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies and treatments, continually assimilating a vast amount of new and complex information. Indeed, studies have shown that both experienced and novice physicians form more coherent, durable, and flexible understandings of diseases and their treatments when they can link conditions to basic science concepts.
But there is an even more compelling reason to make basic science education essential for all physicians: stimulating curiosity and creating the scientific habits of mind that are essential for continual learning. Basic science research is a portal to the next generation of medical care. Thus, it is critical that both medical students and residents gain experience in critically assessing and interpreting research, not just in terms of outcomes and clinical effectiveness, but also in the context of biological plausibility and mechanisms. In addition, physicians and physicians-to-be must become familiar with those emerging areas of biomedical science with a potential to affect patient care. Under what circumstances, for example, will personal genome sequences become important for patient care, and what problems and opportunities will they create for a physician?
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