Recruitment of Underrepresented Minorities in Medical School Through a Student-led Initiative.

The goal of matriculating a diverse medical cohort remains important for institutions across the country as it results in an increase in the diversity of the physician workforce. By admitting students who are underrepresented in medicine, the pressing health needs of the growing and diverse patient population of our country can be met by physicians who are representative of their communities. Given the challenges of choosing from a small pool of applicants, medical schools should consider seeking the support of current medical students in expanding the applicant pool and recruiting the next generation of physicians.

Discerning applicants' interests in rural medicine: a textual analysis of admission essays.

Background: Despite efforts to construct targeted medical school admission processes using applicant-level correlates of future practice location, accurately gauging applicants' interests in rural medicine remains an imperfect science. This study explores the usefulness of textual analysis to identify rural-oriented themes and values underlying applicants' open-ended responses to admission essays.

Methods: The study population consisted of 75 applicants to the Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP) at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

A holistic review of the medical school admission process: examining correlates of academic underperformance.

Background: Despite medical school admission committees' best efforts, a handful of seemingly capable students invariably struggle during their first year of study. Yet, even as entrance criteria continue to broaden beyond cognitive qualifications, attention inevitably reverts back to such factors when seeking to understand these phenomena. Using a host of applicant, admission, and post-admission variables, the purpose of this inductive study, then, was to identify a constellation of student characteristics that, taken collectively, would be predictive of students at-risk of underperforming during the first year of medical school.

Medical student interest in academic medical careers: a multi-institutional study.

Little is known about how medical students view academic medicine. This multi-institutional study explored student perceptions of this career path. During 2009-2010, third- and fourth-year students at three United States medical schools completed a 30-item online survey.

Differences in motives between Millennial and Generation X medical students.

OBJECTIVES Three domains comprise the field of human assessment: ability, motive and personality. Differences in personality and cognitive abilities between generations have been documented, but differences in motive between generations have not been explored. This study explored generational differences in medical students regarding motives using the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

Increasing the medical school applicant pool: a key to training more rural physicians.

Context: Workforce studies show shortages of physicians in many areas of the United States. These shortages are especially severe in states such as Kentucky with many rural counties and are predicted to worsen in the future unless there are changes throughout our educational system to build aspirations and prepare students for medical school education.

Purpose: To examine rural-urban differences and community characteristics of applicants and matriculants to Kentucky's two allopathic medical schools and influences on the educational aspirations of young students who wish to become physicians.

Emotional intelligence and medical specialty choice: findings from three empirical studies.

Context: Despite only modest evidence linking personality-type variables to medical specialty choice, stereotypes involving empathy and 'emotional connectedness' persist, especially between primary care providers and surgeons or subspecialists. This paper examines emotional intelligence (EI) and specialty choice among students at three US medical schools.

Methods: Results from three independent studies are presented.

The applicant pool: the genesis of the physician pipeline.

As medical schools across the nation consider the recent call made by the Association of American Medical Colleges to increase numbers of medical school students by 30% by 2015, it is important to explore the characteristics of the applicant pool. Understanding the make-up of the pool of recent applicants to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine can assist us in defining areas where the pool could be expanded in the future. Reviewing data from 2002-2006, we will examine the Kentucky county of origin of our applicants and matriculants.

Changes in medical students' emotional intelligence: an exploratory study.

Background: The ability to recognize and adapt to affective states in one's self and others, emotional intelligence is thought to connote effective, compassionate doctor-patient communication. Unfortunately, medical training has been shown to erode some of the very attributes it purports to instill in students.

Purpose: The objective is to examine changes in students' emotional intelligence and empathy across an undergraduate medical curriculum.

A first-year community-based service learning elective: design, implementation, and reflection.

Background: Medical schools have increasingly begun to incorporate service learning practices into their curricula.

Description: As part of a community-based service learning elective, 7 first-year medical students designed and implemented a health behavior education program for residents of a women's substance abuse recovery facility. The resulting program, Start Small, Feel Better, emphasized setting and accomplishing small goals to promote healthy lifestyle modifications.

Comparing millennial and generation X medical students at one medical school.

Purpose: Two main generational cohorts comprising students enrolled in medical schools today are Generation Xers (born 1965-1980) and Millennial students (born 1981-1999). A subset is Cuspars (born 1975-1980), who share traits with both generations. Population theorists ascribe different personal characteristics, attitudes, and preferences to each group.

The Kentucky medical curriculum: continuing innovations in educating physicians.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UKCOM) retains a long history of educational commitment, quality, and innovation. Since undergoing a major curricular revision in the early 1990s, the evolving UKCOM curriculum has continued to incorporate advances in biomedical knowledge and pedagogy while meeting changing societal needs and expectations for physicians in practice. Building upon its established record of excellence in medical education, a curricular quality assurance (QA) program has been initiated to more efficiently guide improvement and innovation by providing faculty with key resources to identify and disseminate local best practices in teaching, learning, and evaluation.

Medical School Performance, Alumni Membership, and Giving: How Do Scholarship Recipients and Non-Recipients Differ?

Purpose: This study examines student recipients of merit, need-based, service, or minority scholarships, their performance in medical school, and the relationship to future alumni association membership and financial giving.

Method: Retrospective data on grade-point average attained across the four-year curriculum and extracurricular activities reported at graduation were collected on students at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine from 1981-1991. Comparisons of academic performance and participation in institutional activities were made across scholarship recipients and non-recipients.

Emotional intelligence and clinical skills: preliminary results from a comprehensive clinical performance examination.

Background: The recognition of emotional states in one's self and others, emotional intelligence (EI) may play a key role in patient care. This study examines the relationship between EI and students' clinical skills in a required, comprehensive performance examination (CPX).

Method: Prior to taking a 12-station CPX, third-year students in 2003 and 2004 (n=165) completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale and Davis' Interpersonal Reactivity Index.

How does pre-admission community service compare with community service during medical school?

Background: Little research has examined the link between premedical community service and subsequent community service undertaken in medical school.

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between applicants' community service history with reported community service experiences during medical school.

Methods: Admission files were retrospectively reviewed and community service hours during medical school were totaled for 2003 graduates at the study institution.

A liberal arts education as preparation for medical school: how is it valued? How do graduates perform?

Purpose: This study examines the utility of a liberal arts education on medical students' preparation and performance.

Method: Data included a survey of admission committee members, a preadmission survey of two cohorts of students, and academic performance and extracurricular involvement during medical school.

Results: Some admission committee members perceived applicants with liberal arts backgrounds to have certain advantages.

Service learning in the medical curriculum: developing and evaluating an elective experience.

Background: Medical educators are seeking ways to nurture the service commitments of their medical students while promoting interactions with the communities they serve. Service learning is a pedagogy that links community service with academic experience.

Description: The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has developed and implemented an experiential service learning elective.

A comparison of applicant and matriculant trends, and rising costs of medical education in United States medical schools and at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

This paper addresses fluctuations in the applicant and matriculant pools both across United States medical schools and at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UKCOM) for 1992-2002. It also presents data regarding the increasing costs of a medical education. Over the past decade, both nationally and at the UKCOM, there has been an over-all reduction in the number of applicants to medical school.

The Effect of Gender and Age on Medical School Performance: An Important Interaction.

Being able to predict medical school performance is essential to help ensure the supply of quality physicians. The purpose of our study was to examine the influence of gender and age on academic performance (AP) and on academic difficulty (AD). The study involved all matriculants of 3 classes at one medical school.