Effect of three-year and four-year curricula on physicians' attitudes and medical practice

The purpose of the study reported here was to identify the differences, if any, between graduates who were in different curricula at Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Physicians from the four-year curriculum plan indicated they believed they were more adequately taught than those in the subsequent three-year curriculum plan. The training that the former physicians received seemed to provide them with a better basis for being independent. They regarded as desirable a medical practice requiring them to deal with many uncertainties in diagnosis and therapy. Physicians graduating from the medical school when the three-year plan was in effect seemed to have more personal and academic problems, and more of them suggested that various subjects should have been given greater emphasis in the medical school curriculum.