Report on the survey of international activities of U.S. health professions schools.

Abstract

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates recently undertook a survey of all accredited U.S. schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and public health to determine each school's domestic and foreign participation in international education, research, administration, and health care. The response rate was good, especially for schools of medicine, with 125 (98%) of 127 schools providing information. The resulting directory, published in July 1988, lists 494 programs involving 84 countries: 319 in medicine, 44 in dentistry, 30 in pharmacy, and 101 in public health. Directors, titles and objectives of programs are listed, along with descriptions of areas of emphasis, types of affiliation, personnel involved, and sources of funding. International involvement of the schools was unevenly distributed: about 16% of the medical and public health schools and 6% of the dental and pharmacy schools accounted for half of the international programs in each of these four disciplines. Schools of public health had the largest mean number of international programs per school, followed by schools of medicine. The majority of programs emphasized education and research; lesser numbers were in administration and health care. The majority of programs were in developing countries, the People's Republic of China, and Mexico, together accounting for 19% of the programs listed. In addition to providing needed aggregate and individual information on programs in international health, the directory may serve as a basis for planning by students, scholars, and institutions.