Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26384970›Full record

ArticleBMC research notes2015

Medical student opinions on character development in medical education: a national survey.

George B Carey, Farr A Curlin, John D Yoon

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC research notes, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Virtue in Medical Practice: An Exploratory Study.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2017
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

George B CareyDepartment of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA. gbcarey@gmail.com.
Farr A CurlinTrent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA. farr.curlin@duke.edu.
John D YoonDepartment of Medicine, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 5000, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA. jdyoon@uchicago.edu.
University of Chicago · USDuke University · US

Funding

Re-Engineering Translational Research at the University of ChicagoUL1TR000430 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · PI SOLWAY, JULIAN · 2012 to 2016
$20.2M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000430
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRecently United States (US) medical schools have implemented curricular reforms to address issues of character in medical education. Very few studies have examined students' opinions about the importance of character development in medical school. This cross-sectional study assessed US medical students' opinions regarding character-focused education and their experiences receiving character feedback from educators. We mailed a questionnaire to 960 third year medical students from 24 medical schools. Respondents received a second questionnaire during their fourth year. Students answered three items that assessed their opinions regarding character development in medical education. They also indicated the frequency of positive/negative feedback regarding their character traits. We also tested associations between these opinions and various demographic, religious and spiritual characteristics. We used the χ(2) test to examine bivariate associations between each demographic/religious characteristic and students' opinions on character development or feedback.

resultsExcluding 41 ineligible respondents, the adjusted response rate for the first questionnaire was 61 % (n = 564/919) and 84 % (n = 474/564) for the follow-up questionnaire. Twenty-eight percent of students agreed that one could be a good physician without being a good person; 39 % agreed that educators should focus on science instead of students' characters; 72 % agreed that it was educators' responsibility to train students to have good character; 1 % of students reported no positive feedback from faculty regarding character traits; 50 % reported no negative feedback.

conclusionsUS students in clinical clerkships receive predominately positive feedback from educators regarding character traits. A majority of medical students, regardless of demographic and religious characteristics, are receptive to the role of character development in medical education. This finding suggests that character-based approaches toward ethics and professionalism training may find renewed receptivity among medical students despite recent "professionalism movement" fatigue.

Indexed as

PersonalityEducation, MedicalFemaleHumansMaleStudents, MedicalSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited States

Identifiers

PMID26384970
PMCPMC4575457
OpenAlexW2113173554

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.