Medical education: the case for investment.

It is worth considering to what degree the lot of medical students has improved since Vincent Norman reflected on his days as a student. While diet may have got better, there are clear parallels between the medical student in the first half of the last century who had to pay hospital fees and the student of today who must take out a loan to pay for tuition. In this regard I should declare my own interest. Over the past five years I have spent much time analysing the costs of various forms of medical education and evaluating their effectiveness, benefits or utility (2).