The Flexner Report, written by the professional educator Abraham Flexner (1866-1959), advocated radical change in the way medical schools were run in Canada and the United States. It was published in 1910 under the aegis of the Carnegie Foundation. Highlights of the report included the fact that there were too many medical schools, many were substandard and that pre-requisites for the study of medicine and the content of medical education needed to be defined. At the time of publication, out of 155 Medical Schools in the United States and Canada, only sixteen required 2 or more years of college work for entrance (p 28). Abraham Flexner (1886-1959) was an American educator. ... Medical school generally refers to a tertiary educational institution (or part of such an institution) which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners (medical doctors). ... 1910 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Carnegie Foundation is named after Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American idealist and industrial magnate, whose generous gift made it possible to carry out plans for the construction of the Peace Palace in 1903, the year in which it was founded. ...

Flexner introduced the concept of minimum requirements to get into medical school. One needed a high school diploma and at least two years of college or university level science. Japanese high school students in uniform High school, or Secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (Republic of China) (only junior high school) and the United States. ... A diploma (from Greek diploma) is a document issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that is one of the following: A certificate testifying that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, A deed conferring an academic degree. ... A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellows and still are in some places. ... A professor teaching in a university A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ...

Flexner recommended that medical school be of four years in duration. The first two years would involve the basic sciences and the last two years would be clinical.

Medical schools in Canada and the United States today still follow this outline.

Recently, schools have been diverging from the Flexner Report with more focus towards public health. Public health is an aspect of health services concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. ...

Reference

• Flexner A. Medical Education in the United States and Canada. 1910.[1]

• Hyatt and Stockton The Impact of the Flexner Report on the Fate of Medical Schools in North America After 1909. [2]

• Beck The Flexner Report and the Standardization of American Medical Education[3]

• Goodman and Musgrave How The Cost-Plus System Evolved [4]