scholarly journals The future of physician advocacy: a survey of U.S. medical students

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Chimonas ◽  
Maha Mamoor ◽  
Anna Kaltenboeck ◽  
Deborah Korenstein

Abstract Background Advocacy is a core component of medical professionalism. It is unclear how educators can best prepare trainees for this professional obligation. We sought to assess medical students’ attitudes toward advocacy, including activities and issues of interest, and to determine congruence with professional obligations. Methods A cross-sectional, web-based survey probed U.S. medical students’ attitudes around 7 medical issues (e.g. nutrition/obesity, addiction) and 11 determinants of health (e.g. housing, transportation). Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and regression analysis investigated associations with demographic characteristics. Results Of 240 students completing the survey, 53% were female; most were white (62%) or Asian (28%). Most agreed it is very important that physicians encourage medical organizations to advocate for public health (76%) and provide health-related expertise to the community (57%). More participants rated advocacy for medical issues as very important, compared to issues with indirect connections to health (p < 0.001). Generally, liberals and non-whites were likelier than others to value advocacy. Conclusions Medical students reported strong interest in advocacy, particularly around health issues, consistent with professional standards. Many attitudes were associated with political affiliation and race. To optimize future physician advocacy, educators should provide opportunities for learning and engagement in issues of interest.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Chimonas ◽  
Maha Mamoor ◽  
Anna Kaltenboeck ◽  
Deborah Korenstein

Abstract Background: Advocacy is a core component of medical professionalism. Medical organizations frequently emphasize advocacy, particularly around just resource distribution and social determinants of health, but it is unclear how educators can best prepare trainees for this professional obligation. Objective: We sought to assess medical students’ attitudes toward advocacy, including activities and issues of interest, and to determine congruence with professional obligations.Design, Participants, and Measures: A cross-sectional, web-based survey probed U.S. medical students’ attitudes toward advocacy around 7 issues directly related to health (e.g. nutrition/obesity, addiction) and 11 indirect determinants of health (e.g. housing, transportation, education). Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and regression analysis investigated associations with gender, race, political identification, and intended future field.Key Results: Of 240 students completing the survey, 53% were female; most were white (62%) or Asian (28%). Clinical/non-primary-care was the most common intended future field (61%). Most agreed it is very important that physicians encourage medical organizations to advocate for public health (76%) and provide health-related expertise to the community (57%). More participants rated advocacy for medical issues as very important (e.g. drug addiction [83%], nutrition [81%]), compared to issues with indirect connections to health (e.g. national security [22%], transportation [36%], criminal justice [40%]) (p<0.001). Generally, liberals and non-whites were more likely than others to value advocacy. Conclusions: Medical students reported strong interest in advocacy, particularly around health issues, consistent with professional standards. Many attitudes were associated with political affiliation and race. To optimize future physician advocacy, educators should provide opportunities for learning and engagement in issues of interest.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257394
Author(s):  
Fabian Stoehr ◽  
Lukas Müller ◽  
Adrian Brady ◽  
Antoni Trilla ◽  
Aline Mähringer-Kunz ◽  
...  

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to far-reaching restrictions of social and professional life, affecting societies all over the world. To contain the virus, medical schools had to restructure their curriculum by switching to online learning. However, only few medical schools had implemented such novel learning concepts. We aimed to evaluate students’ attitudes to online learning to provide a broad scientific basis to guide future development of medical education. Methods Overall, 3286 medical students from 12 different countries participated in this cross-sectional, web-based study investigating various aspects of online learning in medical education. On a 7-point Likert scale, participants rated the online learning situation during the pandemic at their medical schools, technical and social aspects, and the current and future role of online learning in medical education. Results The majority of medical schools managed the rapid switch to online learning (78%) and most students were satisfied with the quantity (67%) and quality (62%) of the courses. Online learning provided greater flexibility (84%) and led to unchanged or even higher attendance of courses (70%). Possible downsides included motivational problems (42%), insufficient possibilities for interaction with fellow students (67%) and thus the risk of social isolation (64%). The vast majority felt comfortable using the software solutions (80%). Most were convinced that medical education lags behind current capabilities regarding online learning (78%) and estimated the proportion of online learning before the pandemic at only 14%. In order to improve the current curriculum, they wish for a more balanced ratio with at least 40% of online teaching compared to on-site teaching. Conclusion This study demonstrates the positive attitude of medical students towards online learning. Furthermore, it reveals a considerable discrepancy between what students demand and what the curriculum offers. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic might be the long-awaited catalyst for a new “online era” in medical education.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler S. Jones ◽  
Deborah Rupert

Medical student wellbeing is a topic of growing concern. Medical students experience high levels of stress and burnout and are at increased risk for depression and suicidal ideation compared to the general population. Even more concerning, medical students are disproportionately less likely to seek help for their mental health issues. Identifying and preventing these problems early can have lasting positive consequences over the course of a physician’s lifetime. We implemented a wellness program at our medical school in the spring of 2016 with the goals of decreasing burnout and depression, heightening awareness of mental health issues, and encouraging help-seeking behaviors. To analyze the impact of our program, we have implemented a quality assurance survey. Here we report lifestyle factors associated with positive screens for depression from that data and propose institutional initiatives that can be spearheaded by medical students for medical students to impact positive change.


2015 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 001-002
Author(s):  
Vijayalakshmi Poreddi ◽  
Rohini Thimmaiah ◽  
Suresh Bada Math

ABSTRACT Background: Globally, people with mental illness frequently encounter stigma, prejudice, and discrimination by public and health care professionals. Research related to medical students’f attitudes toward people with mental illness is limited from India. Aim: The aim was to assess and compare the attitudes toward people with mental illness among medical students’. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out among medical students, who were exposed (n = 115) and not exposed (n = 61) to psychiatry training using self-reporting questionnaire. Results: Our findings showed improvement in students’ attitudes after exposure to psychiatry in benevolent (t = 2.510, P < 0.013) and stigmatization (t = 2.656, P < 0.009) domains. Further, gender, residence, and contact with mental illness were the factors that found to be influencing students’ attitudes toward mental illness. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that psychiatric education proved to be effective in changing the attitudes of medical students toward mental illness to a certain extent. However, there is an urgent need to review the current curriculum to prepare undergraduate medical students to provide holistic care to the people with mental health problems.


Author(s):  
Neda Yavari ◽  
Fariba Asghari ◽  
Zahra Shahvari ◽  
Saharnaz Nedjat ◽  
Bagher Larijani

It appears that up until now, no comprehensive tool has been developed to assess medical students’ attitudes toward the different dimensions of professionalism. The present study aimed to develop a comprehensive quantitative tool to evaluate medical students’ attitudes toward professionalism. This study consisted of two phases: The first phase was item generation and questionnaire design based on literature review and a qualitative survey. The qualitative data were extracted from 49 semi-structured individual interviews and one focus group discussion. In the second phase, the questionnaire was developed and its face, content, and structure validity and reliability were evaluated. To measure the construct validity of the questionnaire, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 354 medical students at different academic levels at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The final questionnaire was loaded on five factors. The factors accounted for 43.5% of the total variance. Moreover, Cronbach's alpha was 0.84 for the total scale, and the interclass correlation coefficient was 0.77 for the test-retest reliability. The 17-item questionnaire measuring medical students’ professional attitude had acceptable validity and reliability and can be adopted in other studies on physicians’ and medical students’ professional attitudes.   


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshito Nishimura ◽  
Kanako Ochi ◽  
Kazuki Tokumasu ◽  
Mikako Obika ◽  
Hideharu Hagiya ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected medical education. However, little data are available about medical students’ distress during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to provide details on how medical students have been affected by the pandemic. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 717 medical students participated in the web-based survey. The survey included questions about how the participants’ mental status had changed from before to after the Japanese nationwide state of emergency (SOE). RESULTS Out of 717 medical students, 473 (66.0%) participated in the study. In total, 29.8% (141/473) of the students reported concerns about the shift toward online education, mostly because they thought online education would be ineffective compared with in-person learning. The participants’ subjective mental health status significantly worsened after the SOE was lifted (<i>P</i>&lt;.001). Those who had concerns about a shift toward online education had higher odds of having generalized anxiety and being depressed (odds ratio [OR] 1.97, 95% CI 1.19-3.28) as did those who said they would request food aid (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.16-3.44) and mental health care resources (OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.07-6.15). CONCLUSIONS Given our findings, the sudden shift to online education might have overwhelmed medical students. Thus, we recommend that educators inform learners that online learning is not inferior to in-person learning, which could attenuate potential depression and anxiety.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (03) ◽  
pp. 349-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijayalakshmi Poreddi ◽  
Rohini Thimmaiah ◽  
Suresh Bada Math

ABSTRACT Background: Globally, people with mental illness frequently encounter stigma, prejudice, and discrimination by public and health care professionals. Research related to medical students′ attitudes toward people with mental illness is limited from India. Aim: The aim was to assess and compare the attitudes toward people with mental illness among medical students′. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out among medical students, who were exposed (n = 115) and not exposed (n = 61) to psychiatry training using self-reporting questionnaire. Results: Our findings showed improvement in students′ attitudes after exposure to psychiatry in benevolent (t = 2.510, P < 0.013) and stigmatization (t = 2.656, P < 0.009) domains. Further, gender, residence, and contact with mental illness were the factors that found to be influencing students′ attitudes toward mental illness. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that psychiatric education proved to be effective in changing the attitudes of medical students toward mental illness to a certain extent. However, there is an urgent need to review the current curriculum to prepare undergraduate medical students to provide holistic care to the people with mental health problems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azadeh Lesani ◽  
Asghar Mohammadpoorasl ◽  
Maryam Javadi ◽  
Hossein Ansari ◽  
Ali Fakhari

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1 suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Thaíla Soares da Costa Picanço ◽  
Maira Tiyomi Sacata Tongu Nazima ◽  
Braulio Erison França dos Santos ◽  
Olavo Magalhães Picanço Júnior ◽  
Maria Izabel de Albuquerque Cambraia ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Introduction Contemporary medical education prioritizes the development of scientific knowledge and technical skills, associated with professional attitudes. Attitudes are components of affective ability and influence medical practice, so they should be taught systematically during undergraduate training. The use of films as a pedagogical resource in medical training allows reflection on the biopsychosocial context in which the patient is inserted, contributing to the development of humanistic attitudes among students and future physicians. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of cinema as an educational resource in teaching humanistic attitudes to medical students. Material and Methods A cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, qualitative and quantitative study was carried out with 107 students from the first to sixth year of the medical course of the Federal University of Amapá. The Medical Students Attitude Scale (validated by the author Maria de Fátima Colares, 2002) was used before and after the exhibition of films related to relevant themes in the medical area. This psychometric scale is composed of multiple-choice Likert-type responses and aims to assess the attitudes of medical students regarding the following factors: primary health care; psychological and emotional aspects involved in diseases; ethical aspects in professional practice; mental illness, death-related situations; scientific research. The Wilcoxon Rank Test was used to compare data from paired samples. Results All the factors evaluated by the medical students attitudes scale related to relevant aspects of medical practice showed a significant increase in the frequency of positive attitudes (p < 0.05) among the first- to fourth-year students following the cinema sessions. The fifth- and sixth-year students did not present significant changes in attitudes related to death, mental illness and contribution to the scientific advancement of medicine. Conclusion Cinema is an effective pedagogical tool in teaching humanistic attitudes in the preclinical series of the medical course.


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