Faculty and Student Evaluations of a Medical Student Summer Research Program: a 15 Year Analysis

• Published in: Medical science educator 2017-03, Vol.27 (1), p.75-82
• Main Authors: Ho, Tiffany, Agarwal, Ankit, Khambhati, Jay, Sarfaty, Suzanne, Hirsch, Ariel E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Education; Medical Education; Original Research
• ISSN: 2156-8650; 2156-8650
• DOI: 10.1007/s40670-016-0367-z

Objectives The need for a better understanding of how medical student involvement in research at the university plays a role in both short-term and long-term outcomes provides the impetus for this study. Methods Over the past 15 years, our institution has supported medical students through an 8-week summer research program, the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP). This study tracks short-term and long-term effects of the MSSRP through student surveys and match outcomes. We conducted analyses to understand the association between student and preceptor responses and determine factors that aided in positive research experiences. We followed a subgroup of students to their residency match to analyze the relationship between research interests and career paths. Results We found that program participants regarded the Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) favorably. In addition, we found that the student’s relationship with his or her preceptor strongly correlated to a positive research experience. Two factors—the student’s possibility of publishing his or her findings and the student-reported availability of the—contributed to the student’s interest in continuing his or her research project during medical school. From a subgroup of the MSSRP, we found a strong positive correlation between first-year summer research topics and match results from residency programs, 3 years later. Conclusion Among the factors analyzed, we found that mentorship and collaboration are the most important drivers of research continuity, student satisfaction, and preceptor satisfaction.