Brown Ashley, Ismail Rahim, Gookin Glenn, Hernandez Caridad, Logan Grace, Pasarica Magdalena
College of Medicine, University of Central Florida.
Medical Education, University of Central Florida College of Medicine.
Cureus. 2017 Jan 9;9(1):e967. doi: 10.7759/cureus.967.
Student-run free clinics (SRFCs) are a recent popular addition to medical school education, and a subset of studies has looked at the influence of SRFC volunteering on the medical student's career development. The majority of the research done in this area has focused on understanding if these SRFCs produce physicians who are more likely to practice medicine in underserved communities, caring for the uninsured. The remainder of the research has investigated if volunteering in an SRFC influences the specialty choice of medical school students. The results of these specialty choice studies give no definitive answer as to whether medical students chose primary or specialty care residencies as a result of their SRFC experience. Keeping Neighbors in Good Health through Service (KNIGHTS) is the SRFC of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine (UCF COM). Both primary and specialty care is offered at the clinic. It is the goal of this study to determine if volunteering in the KNIGHTS SRFC influences UCF COM medical students to choose primary care, thereby helping to meet the rising need for primary care physicians in the United States.
A survey was distributed to first, second, and third-year medical students at the UCF COM to collect data on demographics, prior volunteering experience, and specialty choice for residency. Responses were then combined with records of volunteer hours from the KNIGHTS Clinic and analyzed for correlations. We analyzed the frequency and Pearson's chi-squared values. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Our survey had a total response rate of 39.8%. We found that neither the act of becoming a KNIGHTS Clinic volunteer nor the hours volunteered at the KNIGHTS Clinic influenced the UCF COM student's choice to enter a primary care specialty (p = NS). Additionally, prior volunteering/clinical experience or the gender of the medical school student did not influence a student's choice to volunteer at the KNIGHTS Clinic.
Volunteering at KNIGHTS Clinic did not increase student choice to enter primary care, with students choosing other specialties at equal rates, probably due to the variety of specialties present at the KNIGHTS Clinic. This suggests that the volunteer attending physicians present at an SRFC may influence the choice of residency for students. It also suggests that SFRCs are not a viable tool to increase the number of primary care doctors in the United States.
学生运营的免费诊所（SRFCs）是医学院校教育中近期流行起来的一项内容，并且有一部分研究关注了参与SRFC志愿服务对医学生职业发展的影响。该领域的大多数研究都集中在了解这些SRFCs培养出的医生是否更有可能在医疗服务不足的社区行医，为未参保者提供医疗服务。其余的研究则调查了在SRFC中做志愿者是否会影响医学院学生的专业选择。这些关于专业选择的研究结果并未就医学生是否因参与SRFC的经历而选择基层医疗或专科医疗住院医师培训给出明确答案。通过服务保持邻居健康（KNIGHTS）是中佛罗里达大学医学院（UCF COM）的SRFC。该诊所提供基层医疗和专科医疗服务。本研究的目的是确定在KNIGHTS SRFC做志愿者是否会影响UCF COM的医学生选择基层医疗，从而有助于满足美国对基层医疗医生日益增长的需求。
向UCF COM的一、二、三年级医学生发放了一份调查问卷，以收集有关人口统计学、先前的志愿服务经历以及住院医师培训专业选择的数据。然后将回复与KNIGHTS诊所的志愿者服务时长记录相结合，并进行相关性分析。我们分析了频率和皮尔逊卡方值。p值小于0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
我们的调查总回复率为39.8%。我们发现，成为KNIGHTS诊所志愿者这一行为以及在KNIGHTS诊所的志愿服务时长均未影响UCF COM学生选择进入基层医疗专业（p = 无统计学意义）。此外，先前的志愿服务/临床经验或医学生的性别也未影响学生选择在KNIGHTS诊所做志愿者。
在KNIGHTS诊所做志愿者并没有增加学生选择进入基层医疗专业的比例，学生选择其他专业的比例相同，这可能是由于KNIGHTS诊所提供多种专业服务。这表明SRFC中在场的志愿主治医师可能会影响学生对住院医师培训专业的选择。这也表明SRFCs并非增加美国基层医疗医生数量的可行工具。
