Evaluating the 'Vanishing Virtue' Argument in Medical Education: Motivation to Attend Medical School and Expected Work Areas Over the Course of the Medical School Experience.

Abstract

A consequence of the 1910 Flexner Report on medical education is emphasis on objectivity at the expense of empathy (vanishing virtue). Previous studies of the vanishing virtue hypothesis used measures of empathy that produced inconsistent results. We use two indicators of empathy, reported motivation to attend medical school and anticipated career. Motive was defined as interest in academic medicine, service or economic success. Career interests were in scholarship, public health or private practice. Predictor variables include number of years in medical school, race, gender, type school (historically black or traditionally white), undergraduate GPA and debt. The sample is 375 medical students from a population of approximately 600 students in 8 medical schools, 5 traditionally white and 3 historically black. Using general linear models, we find that race, years in medical school and type school are the main predictors of academic and service motives.