Experiences of US medical students - a national survey

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cz8w9gjbq

This dataset contains responses to an anonymous, IRB-approved survey sent to medical students across the country. The survey included demographic information and students' responses to various questions regarding their medical school experience.

Description of the data and file structure

The data is structured so that each row is an individual response. A researcher could analyze the data to see what demographic factors are related to various survey responses.

There are certain questions on the survey that respondents could respond "NA" to if the question did not apply to them. For example, the last question on the survey asks,

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As of 2018, the largest distribution of U.S. physicians was between the ages of 55 and 65 years old. At that time about 29 percent of physicians fell within this age group. With just 11.2 percent of all physicians, the smallest distribution of U.S. physicians was among those aged 35 years or younger. Data suggests that in the U.S. the average age of medical students is around 24 years old and the average age of matriculants is about 31.

U.S. Physician demographics  

It is estimated that one of the best ways to combat aging population health needs is to increase the number of doctors practicing in the U.S. In general, the number of physicians in the U.S. has been on the rise. Every year about 20 thousand new physicians join the U.S. workforce. Despite an increase in the number of physicians the number of active physicians per 10,000 people has remained relatively stagnant in recent years. As of 2019, the specialty with the largest number of physicians was psychiatry, followed by surgery.

Physician compensation  

Physician compensation varies significantly between regions and genders. With graduates owing an average of 190,000 U.S. dollars in student loans upon graduation, equal compensation has become especially important. However, women in the medical industry make significantly less income than their male counterparts. As of 2019, female physicians earned between 51 and 92 thousand U.S. dollars less than male physicians. Regionally, there are also significant differences. As of 2018, physicians working in the North Central U.S. had higher annual compensation than those in other areas. Those working in the Northeast had the lowest annual compensation.

ContextOver 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. ObjectiveTo evaluate medical students' understanding of and attitudes toward healthcare reform and the PPACA including issues of quality, access and cost. Design, Setting, and ParticipantsAn anonymous electronic survey was sent to medical students at 10 medical schools (total of 6982 students) between October–December 2010, with 1232 students responding and a response rate of 18%. Main Outcome MeasuresMedical students' views and attitudes regarding the PPACA and related topics, measured with Likert scale and open response items. ResultsOf medical students surveyed, 94.8% agreed that the existing United States healthcare system needs to be reformed, 31.4% believed the PPACA will improve healthcare quality, while 20.9% disagreed and almost half (47.7%) were unsure if quality will be improved. Two thirds (67.6%) believed that the PPACA will increase access, 6.5% disagreed and the remaining 25.9% were unsure. With regard to containing healthcare costs, 45.4% of participants indicated that they are unsure if the provisions of the PPACA will do so. Overall, 80.1% of respondents indicated that they support the PPACA, and 78.3% also indicated that they did not feel that reform efforts had gone far enough. A majority of respondents (58.8%) opposed repeal of the PPACA, while 15.0% supported repeal, and 26.1% were undecided. ConclusionThe overwhelming majority of medical students recognized healthcare reform is needed and expressed support for the PPACA but echoed concerns about whether it will address issues of quality or cost containment.

Medical schools are enriching programs that form the foundation for students’ lifelong careers as physicians. However, along with all of the positive outcomes and experiences part of medical school, many students report feelings of burnout, stress and/or depression. For example, a 2006 systematic review found that United States and Canadian medical students’ levels of psychological distress were consistently higher than the age-matched general population, and that this trend continued throughout each year of training1. Online and hybrid learning have also further contributed to these sentiments along with isolation and a lack of connectedness. A study conducted in nine medical schools in the state of Florida used questionnaires to evaluate the top stressors of medical students and their effects 2. These included medical school peer relations and conflicts in work-life balance and relationships, which caused effects ranging from poor academic performance, decreases in empathy, suicidal ideation, or leaving medical school. Therefore, further studying and finding creative ways to improve the overall well-being and academic success of medical students is of keen interest. A method in which this has been done is through establishing learning communities in medical schools. In broad terms, learning communities involve small group activities between students and selected faculty mentors, with an emphasis on community, collaboration, and professional development. Learning communities vary in their implementation, size, importance, and individual components throughout different medical schools. Components of learning communities may include but are not limited to social activities, small group reflections, having a dedicated physical location on campus for each small group, or integrating learning communities and clinical skills teaching together. There have been studies conducted centered around different learning communities currently present throughout medical schools, as well as their composition and comprehensive effects on students. The goal of this scoping review is to analyze overarching trends from the literature to piece vital aspects together. Emphasis will be placed on finding core aspects and protocols of learning communities that proved to be most important to medical students and or faculty and their experience. Accomplishing this will hopefully enable medical schools to create learning communities that effectively enhance medical education and lifelong skills, values, and attitudes needed for strong careers as physicians.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of providing a voluntary assignment list to third-year medical students in their pediatric clerkship. This is a retrospective single-center cross-sectional analysis of voluntary assignment completion during the 2019–2020 academic year. In total, 132 subjects who were part of our school’s traditional curriculum and rotated at the pediatric clerkship’s primary site and at our off-campus affiliate sites were included in this study. Subjects who were part of our integrated longitudinal curriculum were excluded.

a627/medical.student.assistant dataset hosted on Hugging Face and contributed by the HF Datasets community

Note: CoP, WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel; US IMGs, citizens of the US who graduated from non-US medical schools; non-US IMGs, foreign nationals who graduated from non-US medical schools.Data sources: Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates [27–30].Numbers and percentages of US and non-US citizens who graduated from international medical schools in the National Residency Match Program after the 2010 launch of the CoP.

The percent of underrepresented minority (URM) students who apply to medical school has minimally changed in the past 40 years. Due to the lack of URM applicants, consequent matriculation of URMs is grossly disproportionate from their percent representation of the United States (U.S.) population. Increasing diversity among medical students and physicians has previously been identified as essential to decreasing healthcare disparities among U.S. minorities. Therefore, it is vital to recognize barriers to applying to medical school among URMs. To identify and assess prevalence of barriers, surveys were distributed to participants of MedAchieve, a mini-medical school program of diverse high school students in New York City. Of students who will be first in their immediate family to attend college, 80% perceived a barrier of pursuing medical school. Specified barriers indicated include cost of medical school (77%), lack of guidance/role models (54%), and predicted inability to do well in medical school classes (54%). At the end of the program, a statistically significant reduction in the barrier of lack of guidance/role models was seen. This study highlights the benefit of mini-medical school programs, especially programs with a mentoring component, to decrease perceived barriers of applying to medical school among URMs and suggests the potential role of similar programs to increase diversity in medicine and to decrease healthcare disparities among minorities in the United States.

BackgroundArtificial intelligence (AI) needs to be accepted and understood by physicians and medical students, but few have systematically assessed their attitudes. We investigated clinical AI acceptance among physicians and medical students around the world to provide implementation guidance.Materials and methodsWe conducted a two-stage study, involving a foundational systematic review of physician and medical student acceptance of clinical AI. This enabled us to design a suitable web-based questionnaire which was then distributed among practitioners and trainees around the world.ResultsSixty studies were included in this systematic review, and 758 respondents from 39 countries completed the online questionnaire. Five (62.50%) of eight studies reported 65% or higher awareness regarding the application of clinical AI. Although, only 10–30% had actually used AI and 26 (74.28%) of 35 studies suggested there was a lack of AI knowledge. Our questionnaire uncovered 38% awareness rate and 20% utility rate of clinical AI, although 53% lacked basic knowledge of clinical AI. Forty-five studies mentioned attitudes toward clinical AI, and over 60% from 38 (84.44%) studies were positive about AI, although they were also concerned about the potential for unpredictable, incorrect results. Seventy-seven percent were optimistic about the prospect of clinical AI. The support rate for the statement that AI could replace physicians ranged from 6 to 78% across 40 studies which mentioned this topic. Five studies recommended that efforts should be made to increase collaboration. Our questionnaire showed 68% disagreed that AI would become a surrogate physician, but believed it should assist in clinical decision-making. Participants with different identities, experience and from different countries hold similar but subtly different attitudes.ConclusionMost physicians and medical students appear aware of the increasing application of clinical AI, but lack practical experience and related knowledge. Overall, participants have positive but reserved attitudes about AI. In spite of the mixed opinions around clinical AI becoming a surrogate physician, there was a consensus that collaborations between the two should be strengthened. Further education should be conducted to alleviate anxieties associated with change and adopting new technologies.

We aimed to determine whether it was feasible to assess medical students as they completed a virtual sub-internship. Six students (out of 31 who completed an in-person sub-internship) participated in a 2-week virtual sub-internship, caring for patients remotely. Residents and attendings assessed those 6 students in 15 domains using the same assessment measures from the in-person sub-internship.

Comprehensive dataset of 645 Medical schools in Illinois, United States as of June, 2025. Includes verified contact information (email, phone), geocoded addresses, customer ratings, reviews, business categories, and operational details. Perfect for market research, lead generation, competitive analysis, and business intelligence. Download a complimentary sample to evaluate data quality and completeness.

Characteristics of US medical school seniors nationally and study population.

The University of Florida College of Medicine administers clinical skills examination (CSEs) that include USMLE-like note-writing. Peer-assisted learning (PAL), in which students support the learning of their peers, was utilized as an alternative to faculty feedback. Second-year (MS2) and third-year (MS3) medical students taking CSEs participated in faculty-run note-grading sessions immediately after testing, which included explanations of grading rubrics and the feedback process. Students graded an anonymized peer’s notes. The graded material was then forwarded anonymously to its student author to review. Students were surveyed on their perceived ability to provide feedback and the benefits derived from PAF using a Likert scale (1–6) and open-ended comments during the 2017–2018 academic year.

This dataset provides information on 279 in Arizona, United States as of May, 2025. It includes details such as email addresses (where publicly available), phone numbers (where publicly available), and geocoded addresses. Explore market trends, identify potential business partners, and gain valuable insights into the industry. Download a complimentary sample of 10 records to see what's included.

Like many large countries, Indonesia has difficulty attracting doctors to service in rural and remote areas. To guide the creation of incentives for service in these areas, the authors analyze two sets of data about physicians: 1) the locations chosen by graduating medical students before and after a major change in the incentive system, and 2) survey data on choices among hypothetical assignments differing in compensation, career prospects, and amenities at various locations. Their findings suggest that: a) The current policy of offering specialist training is incentive enough to make doctors from Java willing to serve in remote areas. (It is not necessary to also offer a civil service appointment.) But providing specialist training as an incentive to work in remote areas is not only expensive, but potentially inefficient, since specialist practice and rural public health management require different skills and attitudes. b) Moderately (but not extremely) remote areas can be staffed using modest cash incentives. c) Doctors from the Outer Islands are far more willing to serve in remote areas than their counterparts from Java. So, it may be worthwhile increasing the representation of Outer Island students in medical schools (perhaps through scholarships and assistance in pre-university preparation). The Problem: Providing health personnel to rural and remote areas Health problems are often the most acute in rural and remote areas, especially in developing countries. But it is difficult to get health professionals to serve in these areas. Understandably, most physicians prefer to settle in urban areas offering opportunities for professional development, education and other amenities for their families, and attractive employment opportunities. As a result, there is a mismatch between the geographic distribution of physicians and the perceived need for them. Context: Indonesia and other large countries The geographic distribution of physicians is of particular concern for Indonesia. Indonesia's vast size and difficult geography present a tremendous challenge to health services delivery. It is difficult to place doctors in remote island, mountain, or forest locations with few amenities, no opportunities for private practice, and poor communications with the rest of the country. In addition, Indonesia's development goals strongly emphasize equity across regions, with particular stress on improving health status in the most remote and poorly served areas. The country's success in placing health centers in all of its more than 6000 subdistricts only increases the challenge of ensuring that those centers are staffed. These problems are not unique to Indonesia. The geographic distribution of doctors has been a concern in the US, Canada, Norway, and many other countries. How can we persuade doctors to serve in remote areas? How do we find out? One method is to offer incentive packages. For this to be affordable, it is necessary to fine-tune the incentives so as to be attractive as possible. What incentives should be offered? Cash? Career development? Housing? How long should tours of duty be? How should the incentives differ according to the difficulty of the posting? These questions can be answered by experiment. But experiments are expensive and difficult to set up, and require years for evaluation. An alternative is to use survey techniques to assess doctors' reactions to potential incentive packages. This approach, often used in commercial marketing, is here applied to policy analysis. The surveys Three surveys of Indonesian physicians' preferences concerning postings and incentives were conducted: Medical students' actual choice of postings to satisfy their compulsory contract service requirement. We describe the impact of a major change in the incentives to serve in very remote areas. Medical students' choices among hypothetical bundles of incentives and post characteristics. Using survey techniques, we can asssess the attractiveness of a large range of yet-untried options. Doctors currently performing contract service at rural and remote health centers were surveyed about conditions under which they would renew their contract. Survey of Medical Students Final year medical students were surveyed at fourteen medical schools. The purpose of the survey was to assess students' preferences over hypothetical assignments differing in locational amenities, compensation packages, and career paths. Survey of Serving Doctors The mail-out survey of serving doctors was designed to complement the survey of graduating medical students. Contract doctors (recent graduates performing compulsory service) were surveyed at health centers nationwide, excluding urban areas, and very remote areas. The purpose of the mail-out survey was to determine the conditions under which serving doctors would be willing to extend their contracts. At the time of the survey, such extensions were not allowed. It was hypothesized that at least for a subset of doctors modest additional incentives might elicit a substantial increase in willingness to extend. The preferences of pre-service medical students are based on very fragmentary information, and these preferences may well change as a result of field experience.

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Online Medical Education Market Size 2024-2028

The online medical education market size is forecast to increase by USD 64.67 billion at a CAGR of 24.9% between 2023 and 2028.

The online medical education market is experiencing substantial growth, largely driven by the increasing adoption of online education globally. As more students and professionals seek flexible and accessible learning opportunities, online platforms are becoming a vital resource for medical education. The growth is further supported by the increasing adoption of e-learning platforms globally.
Within this market, the institutional segment is expected to see significant growth during the forecast period. Educational institutions are increasingly integrating online medical courses to enhance their curriculum, making advanced medical training more accessible to a broader audience. This trend is expected to continue, as institutions recognize the potential of online education in improving learning outcomes and expanding access to quality medical education worldwide.
Another key factor fueling market growth is the integration of advanced simulation technologies in online medical courses, providing students with realistic and immersive learning experiences through virtual reality.

What will be the Size of the Online Medical Education Market During the Forecast Period?

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The market encompasses various forms of online education, including correspondence courses, open online courses, synchronous distance education, and tele-learning. These platforms offer students interactive learning experiences through virtual patient rooms, message boards, chats, and transactional e-mail. Medical schools increasingly employ tele-learning platforms to deliver e-learning materials, enabling continuous education (CE) for students and professionals. 

How is this Online Medical Education Industry segmented and which is the largest segment?

The online medical education industry research report provides comprehensive data (region-wise segment analysis), with forecasts and estimates in 'USD billion' for the period 2024-2028, as well as historical data from 2018-2022 for the following segments.

End-user

  Institutional
  Individual


Type

  Graduation courses
  Post graduate courses
  Certifications and trainings


Geography

  North America

    Canada
    US


  Europe

    Germany
    UK


  APAC

    China


  South America



  Middle East and Africa

By End-user Insights

The institutional segment is estimated to witness significant growth during the forecast period.

Online medical education offers convenient access to comprehensive resources for individuals seeking medical knowledge, enabling them to engage in medical training courses from anywhere, at any time. This includes access to course content, lectures, online tutoring, and study materials through advanced training facilities and e-learning platforms. Medical students and working professionals, regardless of their geographical location, can enroll in medical education without the need for relocation or attendance at traditional institutions. Online medical education is cost-effective, eliminating expenses related to commuting, accommodation, and campus fees. Many online courses and resources are affordably priced, making medical education accessible to individuals with limited financial resources.

Accreditation systems ensure the quality and validity of online medical education, while education apps allow for learning on-the-go. Continuous education (CE) opportunities enable medical professionals to maintain their certifications and stay updated with the latest medical advancements. Online medical education provides a flexible, cost-effective, and accessible alternative to traditional medical education.

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The Institutional segment was valued at USD 6.32 billion in 2018 and showed a gradual increase during the forecast period.

Regional Analysis

North America is estimated to contribute 34% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period.

Technavio's analysts have elaborately explained the regional trends and drivers that shape the market during the forecast period.

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The market in North America, specifically in the US and Canada, is experiencing significant growth due to the advantages it offers over traditional offline education. These advantages include ease of accessibility, flexibility in terms of time and location, and affordability. Online medical courses are often less expensive than traditional degrees, eliminating the need for additional expenses such as on-campus housing and meals. Online medical education encompasses various formats, including c

Background: Despite ultrasound being an inherent part of medical education, only a few German medical schools have established a comprehensive ultrasound curriculum. This study aimed to explore medical students' perspectives on ultrasound in medical education (USMed).Results: Between January 1st, 2019 und June 30th, 2019, an online survey was conducted among German medical students via the students' associations and their respective teaching facilities. The survey consisted of 17 items regarding USMed. Statements were rated on a 4-point Likert scale for agreement. In total, 1040 students from 31 German medical faculties participated. The majority (1021, 98.2%) reported a very high to high interest in curricular USMed. Students agreed (n = 945, 90.9%) that USMed would be helpful along their entire course of medical studies. Considering the best starting time for USMed, the opinions of German medical students diverged: students studying in a model curriculum preferred to start in the second year (40.7%) while 49% of the students studying in a traditional curriculum preferred to start in the third year (p ≤ 0.001). An insufficient allotment of time for USMed in the planned curriculum (675, 65%) and a lack of courses run by medical faculty (305, 29.4%) were listed as perceived significant barriers to the participation in USMed. Peer teaching was regarded as an effective method in realizing USMed by 731 (70.3%) students.Conclusion: German medical students are very interested and willing to participate in USMed. There appears to be a high demand for US courses offered by medical schools.

Medical school predictors of high (≥ 3) wellbeing resource availability.

Gender association with the intention to choose a medical specialty in medical students: a cross-sectional study in 11 countries in Latin America

Purpose: To assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the current study methods and future plans of medical students compared to those in the pre-pandemic period.

Materials and methods: Second-grade medical students reported their academic experiences, study methods, and future career plans before (between 2016 and 2019) and during the pandemic (2020) using a questionnaire-based survey at Hokkaido University, Japan (n = 534).

Results: From 2016 to 2019, we found an increasing trend for participation in short-term international exchange programs, taking the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), clinical training, and undertaking research abroad among the students. However, these percentages significantly declined (35.5%) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 for all the assessed future plans, including short-term exchange programs (-27.9%), taking USMLE (-19.8%), clinical training (-24.5%), and undertaking research abroad (-13.2%) comp...