Assessment of Scholarly Project Requirements at U.S. Allopathic Medical Schools

Abstract

Over 100 years after the Flexner Report first revolutionized medical education, medical schools across the United States are rethinking the role of scholarly research in their curricula. Scholarly research helps fulfill a number of essential elements of the medical school curriculum. The Scholarly Project (SP) engenders self‐directed independent learning, critical thinking skills, writing skills, life‐long learning, and many other objectives. The SP also allows students to assess evidence and the credibility of sources. According to a 2010 study, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Curriculum Directory listed 84 medical schools with required research and 9 schools with a required thesis. This research requirement can take on many forms, some of which have been outlined for specific medical schools. Since then, more schools have embraced SP’s in their curricula, and the SP requirements and objectives have evolved dramatically at many U.S. medical schools. This project aims to (1) identify which U.S. allopathic medical schools have required and elective SP’s, (2) determine the components of these SP’s with respect to the duration and placement within the four‐year curriculum, the types of projects that qualify as SPs, the capstone requirement for the finished SP product, the curricular elements, and the objectives of the SP, and (3) determine how many schools have a required, four‐year longitudinal, hypothesis‐driven SP that culminate in a manuscript or thesis. The 136 allopathic medical schools on the AAMC Application Service website as of September 4, 2014 were included in this research. The individual website of each school was queried to attempt to determine the presence and characteristics of a formal SP within the curriculum. Each school was then contacted with the information that was found from the initial query in order to verify and/or elaborate on the preliminary results. Each SP was analyzed to determine (1) whether it was required or optional, (2) its duration and placement within the 4‐year curriculum, (3) the capstone requirement, (4) whether the research was required to be hypothesis‐driven, (5) the topic areas available for students, (6) whether there was formal curriculum in scholarly pursuit within the general medical curriculum, and (7) what the program objectives were. A total of 136 medical schools were surveyed in this study. Our analysis revealed that 78 of these schools include some structured SP in their curricula. Of these, 48 SPs are required, and 30 are optional. The majority of these SPs (36) require less than 1 year for completion. A total of 48 of the 78 medical schools had a manuscript or thesis requirement for the final capstone. Of the 48 schools with a required SP, 25 required the research to be hypothesis driven. A total of 43 of the 78 schools included required scholarship/research curricula as part of the overall medical education curriculum. The objectives of the programs are described in detail in this study. This study identified four medical schools with a required, 4‐year longitudinal, hypothesis‐driven SP that culminates with production of a manuscript or thesis. The four allopathic medical schools with a required, 4‐year longitudinal, hypothesisdriven SP that culminates in a manuscript/thesis are as follows: the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, the University of Arizona College of Medicine‐ Phoenix, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, and Yale University. The details of each program are explored in the text.