The medical record as a teaching medium.

A major objective of clinical teaching to medical students is that they should see medical practice at its best and should be inspired to emulate and, indeed, improve on this. Medicine in old age is so complex that the medical record, a basis of good practice, is even more essential than in other fields of medicine. The Aberdeen medical record with its problem-orientated approach is described and examples given on the way in which this is used together with the relevance of these examples to undergraduate teaching. The system is particularly relevant to long-stay patients. The medical record is so important a part of the practice of medicine that there should be formal teaching on it in medical schools.