Medical theses as part of the scientific training in basic medical and dental education: experiences from Finland

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Abstract

Background

Teaching the principles of scientific research in a comprehensive way is important at medical and dental schools. In many countries medical and dental training is not complete until the candidate has presented a diploma thesis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nature, quality, publication pattern and visibility of Finnish medical diploma theses.

Methods

A total of 256 diploma theses presented at the University of Oulu from 2001 to 2003 were analysed. Using a standardised questionnaire, we extracted several characteristics from each thesis. We used the name of the student to assess whether the thesis resulted in a scientific publication indexed in medical article databases. The number of citations received by each published thesis was also recorded.

Results

A high proportion of the theses (69.5%) were essentially statistical in character, often combined with an extensive literature review or the development of a laboratory method. Most of them were supervised by clinical departments (55.9%). Only 61 theses (23.8%) had been published in indexed scientific journals. Theses in the fields of biomedicine and diagnostics were published in more widely cited journals. The median number of citations received per year was 2.7 and the range from 0 to 14.7.

Conclusion

The theses were seldom written according to the principles of scientific communication and the proportion of actually published was small. The visibility of these theses and their dissemination to the scientific community should be improved.

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Most cited references 22

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Impact of medical student research in the development of physician-scientists.

BENJAMIN POWERS, James Pichert, Sunil Solomon … (2003)

A decline in the number of physician-scientists has been identified in the United States for at least two decades. Although many mechanisms have been proposed to reverse this trend, most of these have concentrated on MD/PhD programs, research in sub-specialty fellowships, and other approaches later in physician training. Few have emphasized early medical student research experiences as a contributing solution. To determine the effect of a medical student research experience on career choices and attitudes about biomedical research. We jointly report 25 years of experience with National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored Medical Student Research Fellowship programs (MSRFs) at two colleges of medicine, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Vanderbilt University. In both programs, students work during the summer of their first or second year of medical school on a research project that is mentored by an established scientist and participate in a structured program (lectures, visiting professor). We gathered data using pre- and postresearch fellowship questionnaires to assess (a) quality of research experiences; (b) tabulation of productivity, that is, presentations, abstracts, publications, and awards; (c) long-term tracking of former program participants; (d) comparison of residency placements by medical student researchers; and (e) comments from former program participants on the effects of their students' research experiences on career choices. During this time, approximately 1,000 medical students participated in the two programs. Follow-up data (for short-term evaluations, 96-132 respondents with a response rate > 82%; for long-term evaluations, 88-118 respondents with a response rate > 29-33%) strongly suggest (a) interest in an academic career increased, (b) one-third to half of former student respondents considered themselves to be in academic medicine, (c) the vast majority of students conducted additional research after their medical student research experience, and (d) a large number of students were currently doing research or had published or presented their work at scientific meetings. Over two decades of experience with NIH-sponsored medical student research programs at two medical schools strongly support the ability of these programs to interest medical students in research and academic careers. MSRFs should be included in strategies to reverse the decline in the number of physician-scientists.

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The relationship between quality of research and citation frequency

Pentti Nieminen, James M. Carpenter, Gerta Rücker … (2006)

Background Citation counts are often regarded as a measure of the utilization and contribution of published articles. The objective of this study is to assess whether statistical reporting and statistical errors in the analysis of the primary outcome are associated with the number of citations received. Methods We evaluated all original research articles published in 1996 in four psychiatric journals. The statistical and reporting quality of each paper was assessed and the number of citations received up to 2005 was obtained from the Web of Science database. We then examined whether the number of citations was associated with the quality of the statistical analysis and reporting. Results A total of 448 research papers were included in the citation analysis. Unclear or inadequate reporting of the research question and primary outcome were not statistically significantly associated with the citation counts. After adjusting for journal, extended description of statistical procedures had a positive effect on the number of citations received. Inappropriate statistical analysis did not affect the number of citations received. Adequate reporting of the primary research question, statistical methods and primary findings were all associated with the journal visibility and prestige. Conclusion In this cohort of published research, measures of reporting quality and appropriate statistical analysis were not associated with the number of citations. The journal in which a study is published appears to be as important as the statistical reporting quality in ensuring dissemination of published medical science.

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Student research projects and theses: should they be a requirement for medical school graduation?

W H Frishman (2016)

From 1981 to 1994, 69 fourth-year students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine participated in a 6-month medical school research project (MSRP) with the same mentor. Students could choose an original project or library project, and were required to prepare a written report suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. In this article, it is assessed whether a mandatory fourth-year MSRP might substitute for traditional clinical electives. Student reactions to the experience were ascertained by using the responses to an open- and closed-ended questionnaire regarding skills gained by doing MSRPs, the impact on their careers, and their relationship to the mentor. Eighty-nine percent of the students responded that MSRPs increased their ability to formulate a hypothesis, 91% reported that this project increased their ability to conduct a literature search, 95% felt that MSRPs increased their knowledge of research techniques, and 91% reported having improved data collection skills after completing these projects. Students also reported that MSRPs increased their ability to critically evaluate the literature (95%) or to work independently (93%), and 89% responded that the project improved their ability to evaluate their individual strengths and weaknesses. Eighty-nine percent reported that the project increased their ability to write a research paper (34% of projects were original research, 35% were literature reviews, and 30% both original research and literature reviews). Thirty-three percent of respondents reported having some kind of problem completing their projects, and 90% of project reports were accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Ninety-one percent of students responded that they had received appropriate guidance from their mentor, and 73% met with him at least once a week. Seventy-three percent described a relationship with the mentor that went beyond project advising. Eighty-five percent responded that the project impacted their careers in medicine, 97% felt that the research experience was a useful replacement for fourth-year electives, and 91% felt they were as well prepared for residency training as their classmates who had regular fourth-year electives without research. Fifty percent of students indicated that completion of an independent research project should not be required for graduation, whereas 18% responded it should be a requirement and 32% were undecided. Incorporating an MSRP in the fourth year appears to increase research skills and is considered to be a useful replacement for traditional elective rotations. The MSRP impacts favorably on future careers; however, many students do not think it should be a mandatory requirement for graduation from medical school.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Med Educ

Title: BMC Medical Education

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6920

Publication date Collection: 2007

Publication date (Electronic): 5 December 2007

Volume: 7

Page: 51

Affiliations

[1 ]Medical Informatics Group, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

[2 ]Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

[3 ]Oral and Maxillofacial Department, Oulu University Hospital, Aapistie 3, FIN-90220 Oulu, Finland

[4 ]Department of Paediatrics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

[5 ]Research and Innovation Services, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

Article

Publisher ID: 1472-6920-7-51

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-7-51

PMC ID: 2235851

PubMed ID: 18053247

SO-VID: 44bb7e29-5b03-4724-9185-bf4902390823

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Medical theses as part of the scientific training in basic medical and dental education: experiences from Finland

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Most cited references 22

Impact of medical student research in the development of physician-scientists.

The relationship between quality of research and citation frequency

Student research projects and theses: should they be a requirement for medical school graduation?

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