Self-reported evaluation of competencies and attitudes by physicians-in-training before and after a single day legislative advocacy experience.

Background: Advocacy is increasingly being recognized as a core element of medical professionalism and efforts are underway to incorporate advocacy training into graduate and undergraduate medical school curricula. While limited data exist to quantify physician attitudes toward advocacy, even less has been done to assess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of future physicians. The purpose of this study was to assess students' experiences and attitudes toward legislative advocacy, cutting out using a convience sample.

Healthcare reform and the next generation: United States medical student attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Context: Over one year after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), legislators, healthcare experts, physicians, and the general public continue to debate the implications of the law and its repeal. The PPACA will have a significant impact on future physicians, yet medical student perspectives on the legislation have not been well documented.

Objective: To evaluate medical students' understanding of and attitudes toward healthcare reform and the PPACA including issues of quality, access and cost.