Abstract
Although medical students enter medicine with altruistic motives and seek to serve indigent populations, studies show that medical students’ attitudes towards the undeserved tend to worsen significantly as they go through their medical education. This finding emphasizes the need for medical educators to implement activities such as service-learning that may help mitigate this negative trend.All students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Medicine are required to participate in longitudinal service-learning throughout medical school, and a majority of students interact with the underserved at their service-learning sites. Using the previously validated Medical Student Attitudes Towards the Underserved (MSATU), independent sample T-tests showed that students who interact with underserved populations at their sites scored with significantly better attitudes towards the underserved at the end of their preclinical phase. Subjects included 58 medical students with 100% taking the MSATU. This result indicates that longitudinal service-learning, particularly when it includes interaction with the underserved, can be one method to combat the worsening of medical students’ attitudes as they complete their medical education.
Highlights
The USA is currently challenged by striking disparities in health, and the growing diversity in US society has supported the need for culturally competent medical professionals [1]
Service-learning is defined as an “educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs” and includes reflection on the service in order to gain an enhanced sense of civic responsibility [8]
When studies compare groups of students who participate in some type of community service to those that do not, results suggest that attitudes towards the underserved are consistently better in service groups [16,17,18,19]
Summary
The USA is currently challenged by striking disparities in health, and the growing diversity in US society has supported the need for culturally competent medical professionals [1]. A systematic review found considerable variability in program types with various names including service-learning, communityoriented learning, and community-based learning. Despite these variations, there is still evidence that service is beneficial for both the community and the medical students [9]. When studies compare groups of students who participate in some type of community service to those that do not, results suggest that attitudes towards the underserved are consistently better in service groups [16,17,18,19]. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education has recognized the potential positive implications of service-learning and has added a mandate to their standards that medical schools “provide sufficient opportunities for, encourage, and support medical student participation in service-learning and/or community service activities” [20]
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