Abstract
ImportanceDespite the rapidly declining number of physician-investigators, there is no consistent structure within medical education so far for involving medical students in research.ObjectiveTo conduct an integrated mixed-methods systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies about medical students' participation in research, and to evaluate the evidence in order to guide policy decision-making regarding this issue.Evidence ReviewWe followed the PRISMA statement guidelines during the preparation of this review and meta-analysis. We searched various databases as well as the bibliographies of the included studies between March 2012 and September 2013. We identified all relevant quantitative and qualitative studies assessing the effect of medical student participation in research, without restrictions regarding study design or publication date. Prespecified outcome-specific quality criteria were used to judge the admission of each quantitative outcome into the meta-analysis. Initial screening of titles and abstracts resulted in the retrieval of 256 articles for full-text assessment. Eventually, 79 articles were included in our study, including eight qualitative studies. An integrated approach was used to combine quantitative and qualitative studies into a single synthesis. Once all included studies were identified, a data-driven thematic analysis was performed.Findings and ConclusionsMedical student participation in research is associated with improved short- and long- term scientific productivity, more informed career choices and improved knowledge about-, interest in- and attitudes towards research. Financial worries, gender, having a higher degree (MSc or PhD) before matriculation and perceived competitiveness of the residency of choice are among the factors that affect the engagement of medical students in research and/or their scientific productivity. Intercalated BSc degrees, mandatory graduation theses and curricular research components may help in standardizing research education during medical school.
Highlights
The education of health professionals has seen two revolutions over the past century
Sixteen studies assessed the value of intercalated BSc's and 14 studies were carried out in developing countries
If we exclude papers describing medical schools asking for mandatory graduation theses or research modules, we find that a little less than one third of medical students participated in research projects (0.31, 0.22–0.41)
Summary
The education of health professionals has seen two revolutions over the past century. In 2010, a special report was published by a global commission, The Commission on Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century, aimed at updating the standards of an ideal medical curriculum. The committee strongly recommended a new medical educational model that emphasized flexibility and adaptability of traditionally rigid curricula to local and community needs [1]. Despite these educational advances, there are certain aspects of medical education that remain unstructured and largely variant between medical schools; among these is medical student participation in research. There is an alarming decline in the number of physician-scientists in the US, which threatens the progress of translational medicine in the upcoming era [2,3,4]
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