Abstract

Although MD/PhD programs require considerable commitment on behalf of students and learning institutions, they serve as an integral means of training future physician-scientists; individuals who engage in translational medicine. As attrition from these programs has longstanding effects on the community of translational medicine and comes at substantial cost to MD/PhD programs, we aimed to identify determinants that were associated with satisfaction among MD/PhD graduates, a feature that might inform on limiting program attrition. Anonymized data from a national survey of 139 Canadian MD/PhD alumni was analyzed. Factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the reliability of three questions that measured satisfaction and logistic regression was used to assess the association of outcomes with 17 independent determinants. Eighty-one percent of graduates were satisfied with MD/PhD training. Factor analysis confirmed the reliability of the questions measuring satisfaction. Determinants of self-reported satisfaction with physician-scientist training included co-authorship of more than six manuscripts during MD/PhD training. Additionally, protected research time at the place of current appointment was strongly associated with agreement that MD/PhD training had helped career progression. Demographic variables were not associated with any satisfaction indicator. Taken together, the majority of Canadian MD/PhD graduates are satisfied with their physician-scientist training. Project collaboration leading to co-authorships and protected research time were strongly associated with training satisfaction among graduates. If the value of collaboration can be realized among current and future physician-scientist trainees who are dissatisfied with their training, this might ultimately reduce program attrition.

Highlights

  • Physician-scientists play an important role in translating research to clinical practice [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]

  • MD/PhD programs represent a substantial investment of resources on behalf of both the university (11 of 16 current Canadian MD/PhD programs guarantee at least $20,000 in Canadian Dollars (CAD) in yearly research stipends and several institutions further subsidize over $10,000 CAD of the MD portion of MD/PhD tuition per year) and to the local and federal funding bodies that support MD/PhD students across Canada [4]

  • Because of the resource commitment required for physician-scientist training, attrition rates in excess of 10% among American MD/PhD students remain a significant burden to training stakeholders [10,14,15,16]

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Summary

Introduction

Physician-scientists play an important role in translating research to clinical practice [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. MD/PhD programs represent a substantial investment of resources on behalf of both the university (11 of 16 current Canadian MD/PhD programs guarantee at least $20,000 in Canadian Dollars (CAD) in yearly research stipends and several institutions further subsidize over $10,000 CAD of the MD portion of MD/PhD tuition per year) and to the local and federal funding bodies that support MD/PhD students across Canada [4]. A sizeable number (10%) of MD/PhD trainees do not graduate from combined programs [10]. This phenomenon represents a significant and undesirable waste of resources, in light of the 2016 termination of all federal support for each of the 16 Canadian medical schools that offer MD/PhD programs [8,9]

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