Exploring the integration of the biomedical research component in undergraduate medical education

• Published in: Medical teacher Vol. 35; no. 6; pp. e1243 - e1251
• Main Authors: van Schravendijk, C., März, R., Garcia-Seoane, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa UK Ltd 01-06-2013; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Biomedical research; Biomedical Research - education; Curricula; Curriculum; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - organization & administration; Epidemiology; Europe; Graduation Requirements; Health education; Humans; Medical Education; Medical research; Medical schools; Medicine; Surveys and Questionnaires; Task forces; Undergraduate students; Undergraduate Study; Europe
• ISSN: 0142-159X; 1466-187X
• DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2013.768337

Background: A task force of MEDINE (Thematic Network on Medical Education in Europe) organized a survey of European Medical Schools.
Aim: To investigate the link between education and biomedical research in the medical curriculum questioning university staff responsible for the curriculum.
Method: The survey was online between 10/2006 and 3/2007. Answers pertained to the situation in the academic year 2005/06.
Results: Ninety-one medical schools/faculties in 26 countries participated, but response rates to some questions were lower due to incomplete responses. In undergraduate programs, 3/4 of the schools offer research courses and in 2/3 students can do research themselves. However, in most schools, fewer than 10% students choose this option. In about half the medical schools writing a thesis is a requirement for graduation, although the term "thesis" is interpreted broadly. Color map analysis revealed the link between medical education and biomedical research: about 25% of the medical schools had little emphasis on research in their undergraduate curriculum.
Conclusions: We identified the curriculum elements most suitable to improve the link between medical education and research for the initial stage (years 1-3) as literature search techniques, statistics and epidemiology, while for the advanced stage (years 4-6), writing a thesis was most relevant.