Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose: Scant information is available about the makeup of Career and Professional Advising systems, and who the advisors are in U.S. medical schools. We created a survey in 2019 and collated the responses to gain information about Advisors and advising systems. Materials and Methods: An 11 question survey was emailed to 72 U.S. medical schools, querying information about whether they had a Career and Professional Advising system and what is the construct of the system. Kruskal Wallis and Fisher's Exact tests were utilized for analysis. Results: 30/72 responses were received (41.67%). Educational backgrounds of advisors included: 27/30 (90%) by physicians; 7/30 (23.3%) by PhDs; 9/30 (30%) by Masters; 4/30 (13.3%) by others. AAMC Careers in Medicine curriculum was delivered in 23/30 (75.7%). Most advising systems were in Student Affairs (27/30, 90%), although only 20/30 (66.7%) reported to the Dean of Student Affairs. Conclusion: There was no unanimity in any of the responses to the 11 questions about who Career and Professional Advisors are, or how the systems are constructed. The closest to unanimity is that most medical schools have advising systems, that they are in Student Affairs departments, and that most advisors are physicians.
Highlights
Career and Professional Advising has become an essential aspect of medical student support in U.S medical schools
Seventy-two U.S medical schools were contacted by emails that were available to Deans of Students (n=42) and to attendees (n=30) of a recent AAMC course in Washington, D.C. on Career and Professional Advising
Not many specifics are known about who performs medical school Career and Professional Advising, who the advisors are and their backgrounds, and how advising systems are constructed in U.S medical schools
Summary
Career and Professional Advising has become an essential aspect of medical student support in U.S medical schools. Some institutions utilize non-physician advisors such as those with a Master’s degree or PhD to help with career planning, while others use non-specialty specific physician advisors. Given the variability of educational backgrounds and experience of advisors, and that there are no specific standards for advising systems within U.S medical schools, we sought to obtain information about both Career and Professional Advising and about the advisors themselves through a pilot survey. This information, besides for shedding light, might potentially guide advising for new medical schools, and help standardize and optimize Career and Professional Advising
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
