Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2009
Medical education in the United States is torn between its allegiance to the Newtonian biomolecular paradigm of medical science that made it so successful in the past and a growing sense, both within academia and without, that medicine needs to become more interdisciplinary and population based. This article explores the potential of the Oxford Perinatal Care model as a useful tool for medical educators to bridge the curricular gap between these two paradigms. The Oxford model is based upon ongoing meta-analysis of all randomized control trials relating to perinatal medicine; interventions and technologies are placed into one of four categories, ranging from “forms of care that reduce negative outcomes” to “forms of care that should be abandoned.” This article proposes a strategy for the inclusion of this information into the U.S. medical school curriculum.