Encouraging Scholarship: Medical School Programs to Promote Student Inquiry Beyond the Traditional Medical Curriculum

Abstract

Many medical curricula now include programs that provide students with opportunities for scholarship beyond that provided by their traditional, core curricula. These scholarly concentration (SC) programs vary greatly in focus and structure, but they share the goal of producing physicians with improved analytic, creative, and critical-thinking skills. In this article, the authors explore models of both required and elective SC programs. They gathered information through a review of medical school Web sites and direct contact with representatives of individual programs. Additionally, they discuss in-depth the SC programs of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; the University of South Florida College of Medicine; the University of California, San Francisco; and Stanford University School of Medicine. The authors describe each program's focus, participation, duration, centralization, capstone requirement, faculty involvement, and areas of concentration. Established to address a variety of challenges in the U.S. medical education system, these four programs provide an array of possible models for schools that are considering the establishment of an SC program. Although data on the impact of SC programs are lacking, the authors believe that this type of program has the potential to significantly impact the education of medical students through scholarly, in-depth inquiry and longitudinal faculty mentorship.

Using an Extracurricular Honors Program to Engage Future Physicians Into Scientific Research in Early Stages of Medical Training

“…Engaging students in research in early stages of medical education could help to identify a possible scientific career path for these future physicians, as it could trigger enthusiasm and motivation for doing research [4]. This view is shared internationally, as is reflected in the growing amount of curricular and extracurricular courses to engage students in research [2,19].…”

“…Some medical schools have designed and implemented mandatory courses in the curriculum with the goal to get students acquainted with research, for instance Duke University implemented a mandatory period of research into the third year of the medical curriculum, and Stanford University integrated mandatory research experiences for medical students through all years of medical training [19,20]. Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) implemented a curriculum change in 2012, integrating mandatory research courses in undergraduate medical training with the purpose to engage students in research in early phases of medical training by providing them with active learning experiences [21].…”

“…These research-based programs occur in very different ways and under different names, but share a mutual goal to expose students to in-depth inquiry and research experiences with capstone projects like writing a thesis or a publishable article. Such extracurricular research programs occur as, for instance, MD/PhD programs, scholarly concentration programs, Capstone programs, Summer Research programs, and Honors programs [19,22,23]. Leiden University Medical Center designed and implemented an extracurricular research-based Honors program to engage students in research.…”

Student Scientific Inquiry in the Core Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum: Critical Issues in Designing and Implementing a Student Research Program

“…Student-driven research is credited with significant learning [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and professional 9,10 benefits. Professional organizations consistently encourage research content in school curricula.…”

“…Medical education, with student research experience ranging from 5 to 40 and even 173 years 3,5,17,18 , has generated considerable published information and exchange of ideas in the medical community. The natural history and extensive analyses of such experiences proved rich in "lessons learned".…”