Pre-clinical Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

We explored pre-clinical medical students' awareness, attitudes, and understanding of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). We conducted a survey of Brown University medical students within the first 18 months of training to determine their level of familiarity with the field of PM&R. Of the respondents, 53% understood the acronym "PM&R." Sixty-one percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed that they understood the patient population that PM&R serves. Thirty-four percent strongly disagreed and 44% disagreed that they would know a PM&R physician to contact either at or external to their medical school. Pre-clinical medical students may have limited exposure to PM&R compared to most other specialties, resulting in a lack of understanding and/or potential misconceptions of the field, which may influence future career choice and referral patterns. Our data suggests that medical students may have limited exposure to PM&R in the preclinical years.