Michael Balint and Medical Students

Abstract

Several lessons can be learned from Michael Balint's use of seminars for groups of medical students in their first clinical year to act on the concept of “patient-centered medicine.” These groups had considerable impact on the students, but support eventually diminished, and Dr. Balint gave up this leadership in some disappointment. The reasons for this were several: probably the greatest being that, by then, interested students had other opportunities for learning this approach. But it is recommended that Balint's ideas could well be still applied, if such groups were linked with a parallel system of tutorials, in which additional help for students would be available if needed.