Institute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam (iMERR), Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
BMC Med Educ. 2017 Sep 5;17(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0990-4.
The proportion of medical doctors involved in research activities is declining. Undergraduate medical research programs are positively associated with medical students' research interest. Scientific pre-university programs (SPUPs) outside the medical domain are also positively associated with research interest, but have not been related to the shortage of clinician-scientists. This study examined the effect of an SPUP on medical students' research interest.
This study was conducted at a Dutch medical school. Medical students in all years who had participated in an SPUP and first-year master students who had not participated in an SPUP were invited to fill out an online survey on extracurricular activities and future career interests. SPUP participants were compared with three groups of non-participants: (i) an unmatched group, (ii) a group matched on gender and pre-university Grade Point Average (pu-GPA) and (iii) a group matched on gender and first-year GPA, one to five years after finishing the SPUP. Participants evaluated the SPUP through ratings of statements about the program.
Two-hundred forty medical students, including 71 SPUP participants responded to the survey. SPUP participants participated significantly more often in the Honors class (i.e., extracurricular educational program for high-performing students), gained significantly more often extracurricular research experience, enrolled significantly more often in the Research master (i.e., research training program parallel to the clinical master program) and obtained significantly more often a scholarship than unmatched non-SPUP participants. Using a non-SPUP group matched on gender and pu-GPA reduced the effect size of the significant differences in Honors class participation, Research master participation and scholarship obtainment. Using a non-SPUP group matched on gender and first-year GPA rendered the significant difference in Research master participation and scholarship obtainment insignificant. Significantly more SPUP participants than unmatched non-SPUP participants preferred a combination of clinical care and research in their future career. Using a non-SPUP group matched on gender and either pu-GPA or first-year GPA did not change the effect size of this significant difference.
These findings demonstrate the potential value of an SPUP in increasing the number of medical students with research interest and as a policy measure to help to alleviate the shortage of clinician-scientists.
参与研究活动的医生比例正在下降。本科医学研究项目与医学生的研究兴趣呈正相关。医学领域以外的科学先修大学项目（SPUP）也与研究兴趣呈正相关，但与临床科学家短缺无关。本研究旨在探讨 SPUP 对医学生研究兴趣的影响。
本研究在荷兰一所医学院进行。邀请所有年级参加过 SPUP 的医学生和未参加过 SPUP 的一年级硕士研究生填写一份关于课外活动和未来职业兴趣的在线调查。SPUP 参与者与三组非参与者进行了比较：（i）未匹配组，（ii）按性别和先修大学平均绩点（pu-GPA）匹配的组，以及（iii）按性别和一年级平均绩点（gpa）匹配的组，SPUP 完成后一到五年。参与者通过对有关该计划的陈述进行评分来评估 SPUP。
共有 240 名医学生，包括 71 名 SPUP 参与者对调查做出了回应。SPUP 参与者参加荣誉课程（即高绩效学生的课外教育计划）的频率明显更高，获得的课外研究经验明显更多，参加研究硕士的频率明显更高（即与临床硕士平行的研究培训计划），获得奖学金的频率明显更高与未参加 SPUP 的非参与者相比。使用按性别和 pu-GPA 匹配的非 SPUP 组，减少了参加荣誉课程、参加研究硕士和获得奖学金的显著差异的效应大小。使用按性别和一年级 GPA 匹配的非 SPUP 组，使研究硕士和奖学金获得的显著差异变得不显著。与未参加 SPUP 的非参与者相比，SPUP 参与者更倾向于在未来的职业生涯中结合临床护理和研究。使用按性别和 pu-GPA 或一年级 GPA 匹配的非 SPUP 组并没有改变这一显著差异的效应大小。
这些发现表明，SPUP 具有增加对研究感兴趣的医学生数量的潜在价值，并且是帮助缓解临床科学家短缺的政策措施。
