A survey of the beliefs regarding international emergency medicine among fourth-year medical students planning on matching in emergency medicine

Elissa M Schechter‐Perkins ,Nicolas Forget ,William K Mallon

doi:10.1186/1865-1380-6-18

Abstract

BackgroundWith the recent growth of fellowships in international emergency medicine, the authors sought to evaluate medical students’ attitudes toward international emergency medicine and to determine the effects these attitudes have on their residency selection.MethodsStudy design: Cross-sectional survey. Data collection: An anonymous, eight-question online survey was distributed to all members of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Resident and Student section. This survey was also distributed to fourth-year medical students rotating through the Emergency Department at Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California.ResultsNinety-eight surveys were collected, 61 from rotating students and 37 from the AAEM mailing. There were no statistically significant differences in responses between the two groups. Of the respondents, 49.4% of have been exposed to IEM, and 46.9% have participated in international health projects. Ninety-four percent agree that IEM is an exciting career option. Seventy-nine percent said programs with IEM opportunities are more appealing than those without, and 45% said the presence of IEM opportunities would be an important factor in rank list; 53% believe that IEM requires formal public health training, and 63% believe it requires tropical medicine training; 68.3%of respondents speak a language in addition to English. This subset was more likely to have participated in IEM projects previously (p = 0.026) but not more likely to make match choices based on IEM.ConclusionsHalf of medical students surveyed had prior experience in international health, and most agree that international emergency medicine is an exciting career option. Over two thirds believe that the presence of IEM opportunities will be a factor in their match list decision.

Highlights

With the recent growth of fellowships in international emergency medicine, the authors sought to evaluate medical students’ attitudes toward international emergency medicine and to determine the effects these attitudes have on their residency selection
We aimed to expand some of the questions of Dr Dey’s group to assess whether medical students’ past experiences in international health, their language skills, their views of and attitudes toward international emergency medicine, as well as their interest in a potential career in international emergency medicine and whether these had an effect on their residency selection
Half (43/87, 49.4%) of respondents have been exposed to International emergency medicine (IEM), and 46/88 (52.3%) have participated in international health projects

Summary

Introduction

With the recent growth of fellowships in international emergency medicine, the authors sought to evaluate medical students’ attitudes toward international emergency medicine and to determine the effects these attitudes have on their residency selection. International emergency medicine (IEM) has experienced a growth in recognition in the US over the past 10 years. This is exemplified by the formation of interest groups among major emergency medicine (EM) bodies and the creation of new fellowships for physicians interested in specialized post-graduate training [1]. This growth may be attributed in part to the success of Emergency Medicine in the US (US) and around the developed world. The number of countries hosting formal EM residency training continues to expand rapidly

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