Medical students' orientation toward the chronically ill.

Medical students receive little training specifically directed toward care of chronically ill persons, and physicians, therefore, tend to have little knowledge of alternative long-term care arrangements. Moreover, the negative attitudes toward chronic patients which were observed by Becker in the 1950s still seem prevalent among medical students. Little interest is expressed by medical students in fields which focus on the chronically ill or aged. Restructuring of medical education is necessary in order to promote more concern among physicians with the needs of the chronically ill.