Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Med Educ. 2019 Apr;53(4):408-416. doi: 10.1111/medu.13774. Epub 2018 Dec 13.
Medical school admissions committees use a variety of criteria to determine which candidates to admit to their programmes. Effective communication is increasingly considered a key requisite to the practice of effective medicine. Medical students with pre-medical backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences may be more likely to acquire skills relevant to patient-centred communication, either prior to or during medical school.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-medical backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences and outcomes in medical school, including in communication and interpersonal skills (CIS), licensure examination results and postgraduate specialty choice (primary care versus non-primary care specialties).
The American Medical College Application Service database was used to identify pre-medical college majors, demographic characteristics, Medical College Admission Test scores and college grade point averages for medical students at a large, midwestern medical school. Data were obtained for 465 medical students across three cohorts (classes of 2014-2016). Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine relationships between pre-medical background, performance on graduation competency examination standardised patient encounter CIS scores and on United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge scores, and postgraduate specialty choice.
Graduating medical students with pre-medical humanities or social sciences majors performed significantly better in terms of CIS than those with natural science majors (Cohen's d = 0.28, p = 0.011). There were no significant associations between pre-medical majors and USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge scores or postgraduate specialty choice.
These results suggest that considering humanistic factors as part of admissions criteria may promote the selection and training of physicians with good communication skills.
医学院招生委员会使用多种标准来确定录取哪些候选人进入他们的项目。有效的沟通越来越被认为是有效医学实践的关键要求。具有人文和社会科学医学前背景的医学生，无论是在医学前还是在医学院期间，都更有可能获得与以患者为中心的沟通相关的技能。
本研究旨在探讨人文和社会科学医学前背景与医学院表现之间的关系，包括沟通和人际交往能力（CIS）、执照考试成绩和毕业后专业选择（初级保健与非初级保健专业）。
使用美国医学院申请服务数据库，确定某大型中西部医学院医学生的医学前大学专业、人口统计学特征、医学院入学考试成绩和大学平均绩点。对三个队列（2014-2016 年班级）的 465 名医学生进行了数据分析。相关性和回归分析用于检查医学前背景与毕业综合能力考试标准化患者考试 CIS 成绩以及美国医师执照考试（USMLE）第 1 步和第 2 步临床知识成绩之间的关系，并与毕业后专业选择进行了关系分析。
具有医学人文或社会科学专业背景的医学生在 CIS 方面的表现明显优于具有自然科学专业背景的医学生（Cohen's d = 0.28，p = 0.011）。医学前专业与 USMLE 第 1 步和第 2 步临床知识成绩或毕业后专业选择之间没有显著关联。
这些结果表明，将人文因素作为招生标准的一部分，可以促进选拔和培养具有良好沟通能力的医生。
