Content and Functionality of United States Medical School Websites

Pollock, Jordan R.; Moore, Michael L.; Smith, Jacob; Woolstenhulme, Jonny B; Markham, Dane J.; Rhees, Joshua R; Poole, Kenneth; Pollock, Nathan T.; Patel, Naresh P.

doi:10.7759/cureus.15534

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Pollack et al evaluated 192 medical schools for the presence of 39 items relevant to medical school applicants and their findings revealed a lack of online information for medical school applicants. 28 Websites with adequate and relevant information are useful in enabling applicants to make informed decisions. The COVID pandemic with limits on personal interactions and the move to virtual interviews, highlights the need for medical schools to develop their website content and functionality, in order to adequately inform applicants and increase recruitment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, we developed a method of data collection that should potentially capture all the relevant information on pathway programs. 28 It is possible that there is other information on the medical schools’ websites that may be useful to prospective pathway students, that we did not retrieve. We also used a convenient sample of available websites of medical schools and did not do a sample size calculation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seeking Equity; Pathway Programs in Liaison Committee on Medical Education Medical Schools for Minoritized Students

Ogunyemi,

Westermeyer,

Eghbali

et al. 2023

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development

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Objectives There is a paucity of data on pathway programs that seek to increase underrepresented in medicine (URiM) students in medicine. Therefore, this investigation aimed to describe the status and associations of pathway programs at US medical schools. Methods From May to July 2021, the authors obtained information by (1) accessing pathway programs listed on the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) website, (2) reviewing websites of US medical schools, (3) calling medical schools to obtain further information. The data retrieved from the medical school websites was compiled into a 27-item checklist based on the maximum number of different items that was extracted from any of the medical school websites. The data included program characteristics, curricula, activities, and outcomes. Each program was assessed on the number of categories of which information was available. Statistical analyses determined significant associations of URiM-focused pathways and other factors. Results The authors identified 658 pathway programs: 153 (23%) listed on AAMC website and 505 (77%) identified from medical school websites. Only 88 (13%) programs listed outcomes and 143 (22%) had adequate website information. URiM-focused programs (48%) were independently associated with AAMC website listing (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.62, P = .001), no fees requirement (aOR = 3.33, P = .001), oversight by diversity departments (aOR = 2.05, P = .012), Medical College Admission Test preparations (aOR = 2.70, P = .001), research opportunities (aOR = 1.51, P = .022), and mentoring (aOR = 2.58., P < .001). Programs targeting K1-12 were less likely to offer mentoring, shadowing or research or include URiM students. Programs with outcomes were more likely to be college programs with longer durations and offer research, while programs listed on AAMC website provided more resources. Conclusion Although pathway programs are available for URiM students, accessibility issues due to inadequate websites information and early exposure are barriers. Most programs have insufficient data on their website, including a lack of outcome data which is detrimental in today's virtual climate. Medical schools should update their websites to ensure that students requiring support to matriculate into medical school have adequate and relevant information to make informed decisions regarding participation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Equity; Pathway Programs in Liaison Committee on Medical Education Medical Schools for Minoritized Students

Ogunyemi,

Westermeyer,

Eghbali

et al. 2023

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We speculate that CETLs may have a similar impact on medical school admissions, particularly for programs that are prominently featured on medical school institutional websites. The content of residency program websites is known to be important for residency applicants [ 54 ], and as most medical school applicants use the Internet as an information source when applying [ 39 ], the importance of website advertising likely applies to medical school recruitment as well. In our study, the prevalence of CETLs interestingly varied with institutional geography (more common in the Northern region of the U.S. than the Southeast) and ranking (greater presence at top 50 research institutions than lower-ranked/unranked institutions), but not with institutional status as public or private.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In developing the search algorithm, we adhered to established recommendations for conducting systematic web searches [ 37 ]. Prior works studying UME scholarly concentration programs [ 29 , 38 ] and reviewing medical school websites [ 39 ] informed our search methodology.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pipeline starts in medical school: characterizing clinician-educator training programs for U.S. medical students

Bahar

O'Shea

et al. 2022

Medical Education Online

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In the past forty years, clinician-educators have become indispensable to academic medicine. Numerous clinician-educator-training programs exist within graduate medical education (GME) as clinician-educator tracks (CETs). However, there is a call for the clinician-educator pipeline to begin earlier. This work aims to identify and characterize clinician-educator track-like programs (CETLs) available in undergraduate medical education (UME). We developed an algorithm of 20 individual keyword queries to search the website of each U.S. allopathic medical school for CETLs. We performed the web search between March to April 2021 and repeated the search between July and September 2021. The search identified CETLs for 79 (51%) of the 155 U.S. allopathic medical schools. The identified CETLs commonly address the clinician-educator competency of educational theory (86%, 68/79), are formally organized as concentrations or analogous structures (52%, 41/79), and span all four years of medical school (37%, 29/79). The prevalence of CETLs varies with geography and medical school ranking. We provide an overview of the current state of CETLs as assessed from institutional websites. To create a future with a sustainable output of skilled clinician-educators, UME must continue to increase the number and quality of CETLs.

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“…Medical school websites serve as an essential portal for prospective students and other information seekers, a role accentuated in 2020 when in-person communication was limited by the COVID-19 pandemic. 5,6 School websites reflect the priorities of their academic institutions, showcasing self-identified strengths and areas of emphasis. 7,8 Information missing from school websites may thus offer insights into the relative value the institution places on these omitted areas.…”

Section: Institution Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

You can't be what you can't see: A systematic website review of Geriatrics Online‐Visibility at US medical schools

Dawson

Abiola

Sullivan

et al. 2022

J American Geriatrics Society

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Background Graduating US medical students must build strong skills in caring for older adults, necessitated by shifting population demographics. Little is known, however, about current medical student exposure to geriatrics on a national scale. This systematic website review characterizes geriatrics opportunities at US medical schools, seen through the lens of publicly available information online. Methods Reviewers searched for 18 online Geriatrics Elements, in the domains of Information Prevalence, Geriatrics Environment, and Geriatrics Education, for all 191 US medical schools accredited as of January 2020. Latent Class Analysis was used to classify schools according to their publicly visible geriatrics opportunities. Results Schools had a median of 7 Geriatrics Elements identified online [IQR 4–10]. Optional geriatrics clinical activity was the most prevalent (76%), while fewer than half of all schools had online evidence of required geriatrics clinical activity (45%). A profile of the three groups of schools identified by Latent Class Analysis, termed Geriatrics Online‐Visibility groups (High n = 39, 20%; Medium n = 90, 47%; Low n = 62, 32%), is presented. Online evidence of geriatrics‐specific funding was the greatest distinguishing factor among the groups. Conclusions Examining US medical school websites collectively and comparatively across Geriatrics Online‐Visibility groups can ground discussions of geriatrics education in current national data. Though many school websites present optional geriatrics activities, far fewer specify geriatrics requirements. High Geriatrics Online‐Visibility schools present an array of both optional and required geriatrics opportunities on their websites, but this cohort comprises only 20% of schools. Recommended next steps are proposed to guide schools inspired to enhance their Geriatrics Online‐Visibility.

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Content and Functionality of United States Medical School Websites

Cited by 3 publications

References 14 publications

Seeking Equity; Pathway Programs in Liaison Committee on Medical Education Medical Schools for Minoritized Students

Seeking Equity; Pathway Programs in Liaison Committee on Medical Education Medical Schools for Minoritized Students

The pipeline starts in medical school: characterizing clinician-educator training programs for U.S. medical students

You can't be what you can't see: A systematic website review of Geriatrics Online‐Visibility at US medical schools

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