Abstract:

Background: The notable decrease of physician scientists in medical practice has created interest in formulating research programs in medical school. Moreover, accreditation standards dictate that medical schools provide research training for students in their undergraduate program. However, little has been investigated regarding students’ perceptions of their own abilities, skills, and comfort in learning research, as well as their prior experiences, current interests and futures plans to engage in research endeavors. The goal of this study was to investigate medical students’ experience and attitudes towards research including their perceived goals and barriers to such endeavors during their educational experience.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July-September 2019 using an anonymous, online survey First-year medical students enrolled in a medical school in the southeast United States were invited to participate. Pertinent published studies, validated scales, and anecdotal evidence guided the creation of the 72-item questionnaire to assess student experiences and attitudes towards research. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data in SPSS v.25.

Results: Most of the 233 students who participated reported they would like to be involved in research during medical school (e.g., projects with faculty, submitting peer-reviewed journal articles, oral and poster presentations). One-third (n=71; 30%) reported that they plan on being ‘significantly’ involved in research during their career. A small percentage of students reported having some type of health-related training prior to medical school e.g., research assistant). Students reported they thought that research was important for their future career and were interested in getting more education and opportunities to participate in research as part of the medical school program. Students scored relatively low overall on validated scales that assessed their:
1) feeling secure in their understanding of certain research concepts (e.g., basic statistics, evidence-based medicine);
2) confidence in conducting research (e.g., defining a research question, building a team, designing research);
3) perceptions of their ability to do certain activities (e.g., analyzing results, publishing findings).

Conclusions: Findings indicate that incoming medical students show interest in becoming involved in research, including submitting peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations, yet the reason for their interest is unknown. It may be driven by the desire to “get a good residency” position or pure interest in scientific inquiry. Nonetheless, students were interested in learning more about research and having opportunities to participate in research in the medical school program. Didactic learning activities that teach students core concepts of research (e.g., basic statistics, how to conduct a research study, evidence-based medicine) might prove useful. Research confidence and ability to complete research tasks require a more nuanced understanding of concepts such as developing a research question, designing research, analyzing results, and disseminating findings, all tasks best acquired through experiential learning. Activities should focus on transforming how we not only teach but encourage medical students to learn to think critically, practice evidence-based medicine, and pose thoughtful questions as life-long learners to enhance the care of patients.

Keywords:

Medical student, research, self-efficacy, curricula, confidence.