Exploring the integration of the biomedical research component in undergraduate medical education

A task force of MEDINE (Thematic Network on Medical Education in Europe) organized a survey of European Medical Schools.

To investigate the link between education and biomedical research in the medical curriculum questioning university staff responsible for the curriculum.

The survey was online between 10/2006 and 3/2007. Answers pertained to the situation in the academic year 2005/06.

Ninety-one medical schools/faculties in 26 countries participated, but response rates to some questions were lower due to incomplete responses. In undergraduate programs, 3/4 of the schools offer research courses and in 2/3 students can do research themselves. However, in most schools, fewer than 10% students choose this option. In about half the medical schools writing a thesis is a requirement for graduation, although the term "thesis" is interpreted broadly. Color map analysis revealed the link between medical education and biomedical research: about 25% of the medical schools had little emphasis on research in their undergraduate curriculum.

We identified the curriculum elements most suitable to improve the link between medical education and research for the initial stage (years 1-3) as literature search techniques, statistics and epidemiology, while for the advanced stage (years 4-6), writing a thesis was most relevant.