On nonscience premedical education: surprising evidence and a call for clarification

Critics decrying inadequacies in the training of physicians note a lack of "humanistic" education. This deficiency is cited as the cause of a variety of problems perceived among modern physicians. Yet the content of "humanistic" education is rarely specified, and typically little or no data are presented about what medical students actually study during their premedical years. Proposals for change thus do not have an empirical base and instead derive from observations of "symptoms." The present authors report an analysis of the undergraduate transcripts of 465 students from the University of Rochester who applied to medical school. Results indicate a surprising breadth in undergraduate training which is inconsistent with the claims of narrowness. The authors call upon medical educators for further specification of the desired role of the social sciences and humanities in the undergraduate preparation of future physicians.