Influence of a scientific program for undergraduated medical students upon the published scientific production of...

Medical literature has emphasized the role of scientific research and publications in medical education. This study had the aim to detect the impact of PIC (program of scientific support) upon scientific published production of the professors teaching at Universidade Federal Fluminense. The group comprised 32 professors that participated in the PIC for at least 4 semesters. Each issue published was registered as one "product". Between 1996 and 2003, 8 years were considered for the registration of the "products" by each professor. The mean point of this period was the moment when each professor entered the program. For each professor we counted the products during the 4 years before he entered the program and during the 4 years after this occurred. Finally we summed up the products of all professors for the period before entering the program and had the mean. The same was done for the period after entering the program. Applying the paired t test, two means were reached for the two periods of scientific productivity. The same procedure was followed for two subgroups of professors: masters and doctors. The professors had 25.13 products after and 16.81 before the PIC (P< or =0.001); those with a master degree presented 16.36 products after PIC versus 5.18 before (p< or =0.08); doctors, 29.71 products after versus 22.9 products before PIC (p< or =0.028). The authors concluded that the PIC increased written production of professors, either with degree of master or doctor with relevance for those with degree of master.