> Given this, I am concerned that further relaxation of standards in an effort to train more doctors won't lead to better outcomes.
The high standards certainly prevent people who are unable to meet the standars from practicing medicine, but they also prevent people who are able to but see the standards as unreasonably onerous and pursue something else. Some of those could have been great doctors but looked at the steps and said nope, I'm not going to go to med school, then hope I can get a residency, in which case I get to have a hellish schedule and little autonomy for at least three years, and then probably a hellish schedule and little autonomy for many more years.
The high standards certainly prevent people who are unable to meet the standars from practicing medicine, but they also prevent people who are able to but see the standards as unreasonably onerous and pursue something else. Some of those could have been great doctors but looked at the steps and said nope, I'm not going to go to med school, then hope I can get a residency, in which case I get to have a hellish schedule and little autonomy for at least three years, and then probably a hellish schedule and little autonomy for many more years.