Deeper Pathways for Recruitment Efforts: Identifying Opportunities for Undergraduate and Medical Student Involvement...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Training

Background:

• Only 74% of infectious diseases (ID) fellowship positions were filled in the 2022 match.
• This low fill rate necessitates innovative recruitment and outreach strategies for ID.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the availability of undergraduate and medical school student groups focused on infectious diseases.
• To explore geographic relationships between ID fellowships and undergraduate institutions.

Main Methods:

• A manual search of 2321 university and 181 medical school websites was conducted.
• The search identified undergraduate clubs and medical school interest groups for various specialties, including ID.
• Geographic data were analyzed to compare the proximity of ID fellowships to undergraduate institutions.

Main Results:

• Infectious diseases student groups were found in only 0.29% of undergraduate institutions and 35.6% of medical schools.
• Every adult ID fellowship was located in the same county/city as at least one undergraduate institution.
• 28.5% of adult ID fellowships were in the same zip code as an undergraduate institution.

Conclusions:

• The scarcity of ID student interest groups presents a significant opportunity for the ID community.
• Targeted outreach and recruitment efforts through student groups at undergraduate and medical school levels are recommended.
• Developing these groups can help address the ID fellowship recruitment challenges.