history of medicine in relation to medical education in Oman

ABSTRACT

The history of medicine is often not taken seriously by medical educators and the inclusion of small illustrative inserts in an otherwise standard textbook confuse rather than enlighten students. History does not in general come across as a serious contributor to modem medical education despite the many scholarly suggestions that it could play a major role.Despite these remarks, some medical schools have had a long experience of teaching the history of medicine with extremely positive results. This essay explores the educational role of medical history and suggests a programme for introducing it into the academic life of the College of Medicine at Sultan Qaboos University