Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Comparative Study
The relationship between specialty choice and gender of U.S. medical students, 1990-2003.
Women have been postulated to be more responsible than men for the recent trend of lifestyle factors influencing the specialty choices of graduating U.S. medical students. The authors looked at the specialty choices of U.S. medical students between 1990 and 2003 to determine whether and to what degree women were responsible for the trends toward controllable lifestyle specialties. ⋯ Among U.S. medical graduates, women were not more responsible than were men for the trend away from uncontrollable lifestyle specialties over the time period studied. Men and women expressed similar and significant rates of declining interest in specialties with uncontrollable lifestyles.
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To examine the hypothesis that medical students' rising total educational debt is one of the factors that explains the recent decline in students' interest in family medicine and primary care. ⋯ In 2002, students' debt levels were high and increasing. Although students with higher debt levels were less likely than were their counterparts to pursue a career in primary care, the effect was modest when demographic characteristics were taken into consideration.
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Comparative Study
The influence of controllable lifestyle and sex on the specialty choices of graduating U.S. medical students, 1996-2003.
To determine whether the preferences of female medical students are sufficient to explain the recent trend of U.S. medical students choosing specialties with controllable lifestyles. ⋯ Controllable lifestyle was strongly associated with the recent trends in specialty choice for both women and men and could not be explained solely by the specialty preferences of women.
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To estimate the impact of a U.S. inner-city medical education program on medical school graduates' intentions to practice in underserved communities. ⋯ Training in the UCLA/Drew program was independently associated with intention to practice medicine in underserved communities, suggesting that a medical education program can have a positive effect on students' goals to practice in underserved areas.
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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has mandated a shift from a structure- and process-based educational system to a competency-based system. The ACGME has not provided criteria (standards), preferring to leave that to the discretion of the individual training programs. Such criteria and an overall strong evaluation process are essential for residents to attain the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes. ⋯ Making the task and criteria clearer to learners allows them to better demonstrate what is expected of them. Residency educators can target remediation in those residents failing to meet the criteria and improve faculty skills, especially in terms of how to train for and assess competence. The authors describe the initial use of the promotion criteria, including how the faculty and residents responded to it.