Abstract: Objective The Course of Social Medicine and Health Management was reformed to cultivate general medical thinking and ability of medical students. Methods Comprehensive reform including teaching content, teaching plan, syllabus, teaching and assessment methods was conducted. Data about teaching content arrangement, teaching method, general medical thinking and ability of the test group (252 students) and the control group (307 students) was collected. Results The satisfaction rate of students in the test group (85.95%) was significantly elevated compared to control group (75.91%) in teaching content arrangement (χ²=8.600, P=0.003); the satisfaction rate of teaching method in control group (79.87%) was obviously lower than that in the test group (91.32%, χ²=13.810, P<0.001); the satisfaction rate of students in the test group (81.40%) was significantly higher than that in control group (58.41%) in cultivating general medical thinking and ability (χ²=33.024, P<0.001); compared to the control group, the score of students from the test group in case analysis about the ability of solving the community problem based on the population, clinical diagnosis and treatment on the basis of the overall medical concept, maintaining healthy and health management and first-aid was significantly increased (all P<0.001). Conclusion We provide some instructions for cultivating general medical ability and thinking of medical students on the basis of the reform for the Course of Social Medicine and Health Management in the context of cooperation between medicine and education.