Medical Education in Costa Rica. From Flexner to COVID-19: Integrative Answers for Old and New Challenges.

Unlabelled: This monograph describes key aspects of medical education in a middle-income country such as Costa Rica, with an emphasis on public education. The main strengths and challenges of our curriculum are presented, as well as some recently implemented modernization measures to address the challenges described. Special attention is given to simulation training in medicine to promote systematic and integrative medical education in a problem-solving context.

Trends in premature mortality from diabetes mellitus in Costa Rica in the period 2000-2020.

Objectives: To analyze the temporal trends of premature mortality from diabetes in Costa Rica in the period 2000-2020, at a national level and by province, and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on diabetes mortality during the year 2020.

Methods: We studied the temporal trends of mortality from diabetes in Costa Rica in the period between 2000 and 2020. Age-standardized mortality rates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each year, sex and province.