Contrasting Incoming Medical Students’ Attitudes

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (AMS) recently implemented a novel dual degree MD-ScM program in primary care and population medicine (PC-PM) that enrolls up to 24 of its nearly 144 yearly matriculants. The overarching goal of this track is to train medical students to become physician leaders who focus on issues in population medicine within primary care. Methods: We conducted a baseline assessment of the students enrolled in this parallel track in comparison to our traditional students to identify characteristics of and group differences between students in the PC-PM program and traditional students. Data was collected from first-year students matriculating in the 2015 and 2016 academic years (N=277) using portions of nine validated surveys with an emphasis on caring for the underserved and cultural competence, professionalism, working in interprofessional teams, tolerance of ambiguity, empathy, patient-provider interactions, and patient safety/quality improvement. Results: We identified slightly higher significant baseline differences on three scales in which the PC-PM students (n=38) were higher than those in the traditional track students (n=239). These measured cultural competency (t[275]=-3.05, P=.003), professionalism (t[273]=-3.10, P=.002), and attitudes toward working with underserved populations (t[267]=2.31, P=.02). Conclusions: The higher differences for these three elements may be important to the success of the PC-PM program. We plan to track the growth of the PC-PM students as well as our traditional students through their 4 years of medical school to investigate growth and development throughout the academic career.

Evaluating face-to-face and online flipped learning on performance and satisfaction in marketing and communication students

“…Similarly, Gutiérrez et al (2020) studied various active methodologies, including transmedia narrative supported by ICTs, resulting in improved learning strategies, a deeper understanding of the topics, enhanced problem-solving, and increased classroom satisfaction, without distinguishing between SDs and DDs. Monteiro et al (2018) found that students demonstrated slightly more significant differences in their attitudes towards culture, professionalism, and serving underserved populations when engaged in collaborative work, as compared to SD students. Calvert (2022) using traditional methodology, compared the performance (grades) of DD students in management and engineering with two SDs programs, concluding that DD students achieved the same level of specialization engineering and business administration.…”