This Article  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

To the Editor: The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) administers its annual graduation questionnaire (GQ) to graduating medical students at all 125 accredited US medical schools. The GQ surveys students about a wide range of topics relating to their educational experience, and the resulting data are useful for tracking national trends, as well as for providing specific feedback to medical schools. This year, for the first time, the GQ was administered electronically rather than in the prior paper-and-pencil format. Because the results can be made available much sooner than in previous years, medical schools now have the opportunity to further query their graduating students before they leave to begin their residencies.

The 2000 GQ also contains a number of new questions relating to the Medical School Objective Project (MSOP),^1-2 an ongoing national enterprise that seeks to define specific competencies for physicians within a broad range of professional attributes. In addition, this year's GQ probed a number of topics for which students have previously reported feeling unprepared. We present preliminary data for the 2000 GQ.

Methods
The GQ was made available on the Internet to approximately 16,000 graduating medical students, of whom 12,303 (77%) responded by April 1, 2000.

Results
The preliminary results of the 2000 GQ indicate that many of the objectives of the MSOP are being addressed in medical school curricula. For example, 84.8% of students felt that a commitment to advocate for access to health care for members of traditionally underserved minorities was adequately addressed. Similarly, more than 95% felt that commitments to lifelong learning, compassionate treatment of patients, and respect for privacy were sufficiently emphasized. Specific teaching methods were also addressed. For instance, of the 98.1% of students who felt that compassionate treatment of patients was adequately addressed, only 18.5% specifically identified a role model as the most important source of that information.

The MSOP identifies technology in medicine as a central topic in medical education. Most respondents (98.5%) indicated that they were confident in their ability to carry out searches of medical databases, and 78% were confident that they could protect the confidentiality of private electronic medical information. However, about equal numbers indicated that they either were (36.4%) or were not (35.9%) confident about their skills in telemedicine.

Detailed questions about nutrition education were also included in the 2000 GQ, as only about one third of students have previously reported that they received adequate instruction in this area. This year, only 22.6% of students felt that their clinical nutrition experiences were adequate. These percentages appear to vary by specific clinical scenario. For instance 48.6% of students felt that they were adequately trained to nutritionally assess patients with type 2 diabetes, and 58% thought they were adequately trained to assess patients with coronary heart disease. On the other hand, only 25.7% felt comfortable assessing obesity or undernutrition, and only 22.8% felt that clerkship preceptors served as appropriate role models for clinical nutrition.

Comment
While students generally give a high rating to the overall level of their education, several areas would benefit from improvement. We believe the GQ is a key resource for helping medical schools evaluate their programs and for providing ongoing feedback about the effects of curricular reforms.

John H. Lockwood, PhD; Deborah Danoff, MD; Michael E. Whitcomb, MD
Association of American Medical Colleges
Washington, DC

1. Medical School Objectives Program Writing Group. Learning objectives for medical school education—guidelines for medical schools: report I of the Medical Schools Objective Project. Acad Med. 1999;74:13-18. WEB OF SCIENCE | PUBMED 2. Medical Informatics Panel and the Population Health Perspective Panel. Contemporary issues in medicine—medical informatics and population health: report II of the Medical School Objectives Project. Acad Med. 1999;74:130-141. WEB OF SCIENCE | PUBMED

Letters Section Editors: Stephen J. Lurie, MD, PhD, Senior Editor; Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD, Executive Deputy Editor.

JAMA. 2000;284:1080.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?