[Practical introduction of the medical student to biomedical research]

This paper reports on a course being given in the Institute of Biological Sciences of the Catholic University of Chile in which third-year medical students are introduced to biomedical research participating in it as assistants. The primary aim of the course is instruction in the scientific method on a tutorial basis. The course is elective; it is directed and coordinated by a professor, and conducted by tutoring professors engaged in research. The student chooses a research project from a list presented by the tutoring professors through the professor in charge. His performance is evaluated on the basis of his participation in the work itself and discussions of it, his presentation to the final session of the course, and his manuscript. In the last ten years, 47 per cent of the third-year medical students have taken and passed this course. Performance has been on the rise as shown by the fact that the results of ten of the research projects conducted in the course have been published in the last six years. A student who wishes to continue in a research project may compete for the position of student assistant offered by the School of Medicine, in which post he is enabled to complete his scientific training and the project he had started in.