Fiorella Inga-Berrospi

Profile and professional expectations of medical students from 11 Latin American countries: the Red-LIRHUS project

BackgroundLatin America is undergoing a human resource crisis in health care in terms of labor shortage, misdistribution and poor orientation to primary care. Workforce data are needed to inform the planning of long-term strategies to address this problem. This study aimed to evaluate the academic and motivational profile, as well as the professional expectations, of Latin American medical students.ResultsWe conducted an observational, cross-sectional, multi-country study evaluating medical students from 11 Spanish-speaking countries in 2011–2012. Motivations to study medicine, migration intentions, intent to enter postgraduate programs, and perceptions regarding primary care were evaluated via a self-administered questionnaire. Outcomes were measured with pilot-tested questions and previously validated scales. A total of 11,072 valid surveys from 63 medical schools were gathered and analyzed.ConclusionsThis study describes the profile and expectations of the future workforce being trained in Latin America. The obtained information will be useful for governments and universities in planning strategies to improve their current state of affairs regarding human resources for health care professions.

Gender Associated with the Intention to Choose a Medical Specialty in Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in 11 Countries in Latin America.

Introduction The selection of a medical specialty has been associated with multiple factors, such as personal preferences, academic exposure, motivational factors and sociodemographic factors, such as gender. The number of women in the medical field has increased in recent years. In Latin America, we have not found any studies that explore this relationship. Objective To determine whether there is an association between gender and the intention to choose a medical specialty in medical students from 11 countries in Latin America. Methods Secondary analysis of the Collaborative Working Group for the Research of Human Resources for Health (Red-LIRHUS) data; a multi-country project of students in their first year and fifth year of study, from 63 medical schools in 11 Latin American countries. All students who referred intention to choose a certain medical specialty were considered as participants. Results Of the 11073 surveyed students, 9235 indicated the name of a specific specialty. The specialties chosen most often in the fifth year were General Surgery (13.0%), Pediatrics (11.0%), Internal Medicine (10.3%) and Obstetrics/Gynecology (9.0%). For women, the top choices were Pediatrics (15.8%), Obstetrics/Gynecology (11.0%), Cardiology (8.7%), General Surgery (8.6%), and Oncology (6.4%). In the adjusted analysis, the female gender was associated with the choice of Obstetrics/Gynecology (RP: 2.75; IC95%: 2.24–3.39); Pediatric Surgery (RP: 2.19; IC95%: 1.19–4.00), Dermatology (RP: 1.91; IC95%:1.24–2.93), Pediatrics (RP: 1.83; IC95%: 1.56–2.17), and Oncology (RP: 1.37; IC95%: 1.10–1.71). Conclusions There is an association between the female gender and the intention to choose Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics, Pediatric Surgery, Dermatology, and Oncology. We recommend conducting studies that consider other factors that can influence the choice of a medical specialty.

Percepción de médicos recién egresados sobre las habilidades clínicas adquiridas durante el pregrado en Lima, Perú

Sr. Editor: En aras del perfeccionamiento continuo de la educacion medica, las Escuelas de Medicina Humana necesitan conocer que tan preparados se encuentran sus medicos recien egresados para ejercer su profesion. En especial en paises donde la gran mayoria de estos realiza un servicio rural en areas con pocos recursos y deficientes medios de comunicacion, donde solo contaran con sus habilidades clinicas. Con este fin, en el Peru la Asociacion Peruana de Facultades de Medicina (ASPEFAM) organiza anualmente el Examen Nacional de Medicina (ENAM), que evalua los conocimientos de los internos de medicina (pocos meses antes de culminar su internado) a nivel nacional y brinda ciertas luces sobre el conocimiento teorico que tendrian los medicos recien egresados. Sin embargo, no cumple con evaluar las habilidades clinicas, lo cual requiere de otras herramientas especializadas y personalizadas (1). Una alternativa mas simple aunque menos precisa para evaluar las habilidades adquiridas, es obtener la percepcion de los egresados sobre sus habilidades clinicas, como se ha realizado en otros paises (2,3). Esta evaluacion, con sus obvias limitaciones, podria brindar aproximaciones utiles si se aplica a nivel nacional en el Peru, junto al ENAM. Durante el mes de abril de 2014, se realizo en Lima el “I Curso Regional de induccion al Servicio Rural y Urbano Marginal de Salud (SERUMS)”, el cual conto con la participacion de medicos egresados de las ocho Facultades de Medicina de Lima, que tienen planeado realizar el SERUMS en el ano 2014. Se realizo una encuesta a los asistentes con el objetivo de evaluar su percepcion sobre la ensenanza que han recibido y las habilidades que han adquirido en el pregrado, obteniendo la respuesta de 275 participantes. Se realizo un control de calidad en el cual se eliminaron siete encuestas por estar incompletas, quedando finalmente 268 encuestas, cuyos resultados fueron analizados descriptivamente y resumidos en la Tabla 1. Leer mas...