The first nationwide survey of MD-PhDs in the social sciences and humanities: training patterns and career choices

The necessity of examining patients' social behavior and teaching behavior change theories: curricular innovations induced by the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite many widespread calls for social distancing, recommendations have not been followed by some people and the high rate of non-compliance has significantly affected lives all around the world. It seems that the rate of non-compliance with the recommendations among medical students has been as high as the rest of the other youth. In the time that students are removed from clinical environments and most physician teachers are strained in providing services to patients, medical students can be trained in interdisciplinary behavior change counseling programs and they can be employed in delivering virtual consultations to the patients referred to medical centers.In this quick review, we provide an argument regarding the importance of integrating the topic of patients' social history into the undergraduate medical curriculum and the necessity of teaching theories of behavior change to medical students. Hypotheses are proposed that focus on the importance of integrating behavioral and social sciences into the medical curriculum and to teach theories or models of behavior change to students. Health professions educators can design and implement interventions to teach hypothesized models of behavioral change to medical students and evaluate the effectiveness of those interventions. The impacts of such educational interventions on increasing people's compliance with recommendations to improve public health can be evaluated as well.

Student Perceptions of M.D.-Ph.D. Programs: A Qualitative Identification of Barriers Facing Prospective M.D.-Ph.D. Applicants

Phenomenon: Despite a high degree of interest in research among matriculating M.D. students, very few apply to combined M.D.-Ph.D. training programs. Even fewer of those applicants are female, leading to a gender disparity among M.D.-Ph.D. trainees. We used a qualitative approach to understand why students choose not to apply or matriculate to M.D.-Ph.D. programs. Approach: We recruited recently matriculated medical students at a private research university with a self-reported interest in academic medicine and biomedical research to participate in focus groups, in which students discussed their career and life goals, general knowledge and sources of information for M.D.-Ph.D. programs, perceived benefits and downsides, and barriers to applying to such programs. Findings: Twenty-two students participated in focus groups. Participants desired careers combining clinical work, research, and teaching. Students had knowledge of the structure and goals of M.D.-Ph.D. training and received information about dual-degree programs from research mentors, the Internet, and peers. Tuition remission and increased grant access were cited as benefits of M.D.-Ph.D. programs, whereas duration, perceived excessive research training, and early commitment were downsides. Perceived competitiveness, misconceptions about training, a lack of M.D.-Ph.D. program-specific advising, discouragement from applying, and duration of training all served as barriers preventing students from pursuing dual-degree training. Insights: Through this qualitative study, we identified perceptions and misconceptions that recent medical school applicants have about M.D.-Ph.D. programs. These findings suggest targetable barriers to increase applications from interested students, such as improving awareness of programs, increased accessibility of advising and resources, and addressing concerns over training length, with the goal of improving training access for aspiring physician-scientists.

Millennials in Medicine: Cross-Trained Physicians Not Valued in Medical Marketplace

Health organizations must improve recruitment of millennial physicians who bring new skills in order to have more engaged employees and healthier patients.

The clinician-scientist track: an approach addressing Australia's need for a pathway to train its future clinical academic workforce

BACKGROUND

Clinician-scientist training represents the epitome of preparation for biomedical scientific discovery. The significance of, and need for, clinician-scientists is universally recognised as essential to progress medical research across what is regarded as the 'translational gap'. Despite a rich history of cutting-edge biomedical research, Australia has no infrastructure or career pathway for training clinician-scientists.

DISCUSSION

The Clinician-scientist Track (CST) was developed to address this concern at the University of Queensland. The CST concept began in 2010 with the Concurrent MD-Masters that allowed students to undertake a research Masters concurrently with their medical program. The rationale was to offer an attractive and realistic option to recruit our highest performing students into a research higher degree, with the underlying aim of encouraging those most capable, to transfer to the MD-PhD. The Concurrent MD-Masters was immediately popular and remains so. Over 8 years, enrolments rose seven-fold (60 MD-Masters, 36 MD-PhDs). The transfer rate from MD-Masters to MD-PhD is 28% supporting our original aim.

CONCLUSIONS

Many challenges remain for the future of the program. These challenges are underpinned by a culture that values clinician-scientists as crucial to ensuring that high quality health and medical research is undertaken and translated to patient care, but lags behind in establishing an infrastructure to develop and maintain a new generation of this vital workforce. A future challenge is to develop a coordinated approach to a supported Australian MD-PhD pathway for our most talented and committed students beginning in the undergraduate Bachelor's degree into the medical degree and throughout specialty training. Shared responsibility is necessary between institutions and stakeholders to support and nurture newly trained MD-PhDs into the post-graduate years. Flexibility across this medical training continuum that allows integration of both degrees will help ensure students make the most meaningful connections between the research and the medicine. What is paramount will be acknowledging the career expectations of an emerging cohort of medical students, in particular females, wishing to pursue research. Without these considerations we risk losing our next generation of potential clinician-scientists.

Breaking Down Barriers to Pharmacy Graduate Education: The Report of the 2017-2018 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2017-2018 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) was given three charges aimed at helping academic pharmacy address barriers that must be overcome by both students and schools to attract, retain, and support the development of a diverse, well-rounded, and successful graduate student population. These charges were (1) identifying teaching methodologies, tools and opportunities that graduate programs can introduce into curriculum to overcome barriers to success of today's and tomorrow's learners; (2) developing a strategy for achieving member support of the 2016-2017 recommended graduate competencies by identifying gaps in and existing examples of courses or opportunities that achieve competency-based pharmacy graduate education; and (3) identifying potential strategies to address identified barriers to pursuing graduate education, especially among under-represented student populations. This report describes attitudes toward and opportunities related to competency-based education in graduation education in colleges and schools of pharmacy, identifies types of tools schools could use to enhance training towards the competency framework developed by the 2016-2017 RGAC, particularly with regards to the so-called power skills, and outlines a role for AACP in facilitating this training. This report also considers a number of barriers, both perceived and real, that potential students encounter when considering graduate training and suggests strategies to understand the impact of and mitigate these barriers. To strengthen competency-based graduate education, the RGAC puts forth two recommendations that AACP develop a toolkit supporting the training of power skills and that AACP should develop or curate programs or tools to support the use of individual development plans (IDPs). The RGAC also puts forth a suggestion to schools that IDPs be implemented for all students. In considering the barriers to pursuing graduate education, the Committee proposes one policy statement that AACP supports the training and development of an increasingly diverse population of researchers at pharmacy schools through active efforts to promote M.S. and Ph.D. education along with Pharm.D. education. Additionally, the Committee provides recommendations that AACP should expand its efforts in career tracking of graduate students to include collection and/or analysis of data that could inform the Academy's understanding of barriers to pursuing graduate education in pharmacy schools, the AACP Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness should expand upon graduate program data described in the annual Profile of Pharmacy Students report, and finally that AACP should include graduate programs in efforts to increase diversity of students at pharmacy schools.