A survey of US medical education in otolaryngology.

BACKGROUND

With the increasing amount and complexity of medical information, medical schools are challenged with incorporating surgical subspecialty education, such as otolaryngology (OTO), into a time-limited curriculum.

OBJECTIVES

To understand the state of OTO education in US medical schools and to generate a discussion of the role of surgical subspecialty education in the medical school curriculum.

DESIGN

Mail survey and follow-up letter and telephone survey conducted in 2000 to 2001.

PARTICIPANTS

Academic faculty at each of the 125 US medical schools.

RESULTS

Responses were obtained from all 122 OTO programs associated with the 125 US medical schools with Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited programs. One third (33.6%) of the schools have a required rotation in OTO in the clinical years, with others offering elective rotations; only 5.2% offered no exposure in the third year of medical school. Most schools offer some OTO in the first 2 years; 71.1% and 87.2% taught OTO in the first and second years, respectively, mostly in anatomy and physical diagnosis. In the fourth year, almost 68.9% of schools reported student participation in an OTO elective.

CONCLUSION

Most medical schools in the United States offer some teaching and clinical exposure to OTO, with considerable variability in the type of experience.