Program Introduction

In 2021, the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (WUSM) launched the Anesthesiology Summer Research (ASSURE) Fellowship as an innovative way to increase access to careers in medicine for historically underrepresented undergraduate students in the local community, particularly for students who do not have access to rich research experiences at their home institutions. This summer, ASSURE has welcomed its fourth cohort of scholars. Students will engage in improved programming designed to equip them with tools to advance toward the next step in their biomedical careers. We look forward to sharing program updates with the ASPBP community.

Relevance to ASPBP

Like others in the ASPBP community, ASSURE seeks to make the STEMM field more representative of the diverse populations we serve. We approach this by providing mentorship, networking, and training to strengthen participants’ skill sets while helping advance them toward careers in medicine or biomedical research. Though the program is housed within the Anesthesiology department, our fellows engage with clinicians, researchers, students, and educators across many fields. We also invite internationally renowned scientists from historically underrepresented backgrounds to share their work and career pathways with the students. The goal of ASSURE is closely aligned with the vision of the ASPBP, so we are excited to share our curriculum innovations and improvements with others as we advance toward fulfilling this vision together.

Target Population

Over three cohorts (2021-2023) we have served 20 undergraduate students, all from backgrounds historically underrepresented in STEMM. Each year the applicant pool has grown, both in terms of number of candidates and undergraduate institutions represented. In addition to MD and PhD program interest, we are now seeing students indicate interest in occupational therapy, physical therapy, veterinarian, and nursing careers. We have updated our eligibility criteria for this year to include community college students, and we established relationships and partnerships with institutions that align with our target applicant pool (HBCUs, community colleges). Due to these efforts and budget expansions, we were able to welcome nine students from across the St. Louis metro area for this summer.

Lessons Learned

We have expanded upon existing efforts to improve as well as adding some key focus areas: 1) redefining our target participant pool and cultivating relationships with relevant institutions 2) expanding clinical shadowing opportunities for participants. Each year we utilize pre- and post-program surveys to analyze our impact and gather feedback. Our participants reported that the networking opportunities and 1-to-1 mentorship were of particularly high value. Other impactful components noted were the Friday lunch sessions where students were exposed to a myriad of careers via interactions with professionals across WUSM, and the clinical shadowing opportunities which gave participants additional insight into the field of anesthesiology. We are also now beginning to track longer-term outcomes for our program graduates, which is providing us useful data about the post-graduate paths our participants seek.

There does not currently exist advising specifically for prospective pre-medical students at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). Pre-medical students at CCV might find themselves lost in how to transfer to a 4-year institution while also ensuring adequate preparation for the application process to US medical schools using the Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). Additionally, AMCAS does not publish data on proportions of students that matriculate to AMCAS-participating medical schools that, at any point, were fully enrolled in community college during their undergraduate education. This advocacy track aims to identify areas for improvement to increase accessibility to US medical schools for community college students, such as community college (CC) pre-medical advising services, inclusion of pre-medical course requirements in CC course offerings, and CC extracurricular opportunities. This track’s goals are longitudinal for CC pre-medical students and involve what we have defined as the core facets of pre-medical education, which exist for every pre-medical student: baccalaureate performance, extracurricular activity participation, and application timeline optimization for AMCAS submission. Additionally, this track seeks to address unique barriers for CC pre-medical students, such as the transfer process, in their completion of the facets of pre-medical education. This track provides recommendations to 4-year-college pre-medical advising services, community college student advising services, and 4-year-college registrar offices: be conscious of barriers that are unique to CC pre-medical students, provide resources for CC pre-medical students to succeed, and formalize advising pathways between community college and 4-year-colleges’ advising services.

Introduction

Medicine faces a diversity crisis. Black physicians have comprised less than 6% of physicians since 1940, while only 6.9% of physicians identify at Hispanic or Latino. Diversifying the physician workforce is a vital component of addressing health disparities among minority patients, who are disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions, since previous research has demonstrated improved health incomes for minority patients who receive care from physicians sharing a similar background. Early recruitment and retention of minority students in the pre-medical pathway is vital for achieving the long term goal of a diverse physician workforce and addressing disparities in health outcomes in society. Since 2008, the Healthcare Careers Opportunity Pathway (HCOP) at Florida Atlantic University has aimed to diversify medicine by providing academic enrichment and exposure to medical careers for students in 7th through 12th grades. In this study we examined key support systems and role models promoting student recruitment and retention among a diverse cohort of HCOP high school students.

Methods

An IRB-approved qualitative study was conducted among 27 students between 10th and 12th grade who were enrolled in HCOP. Individual Zoom interviews were conducted between students and study coordinators. Interviews were transcribed using Otter.ai and then thematically analyzed using Dedoose software in order to identify key factors and role models promoting student recruitment and retention.

Results

Parents provided longitudinal emotional support for students and encouragement to pursue their choosen careers. 44.4% of students cited their parents as having a significant impact as a role model in pursuing a career in medicine. Friends were typically cited as offering mutual motivation for students and emotional support, with 25.9% of students reporting a significant impact. Teachers were recognized for providing career advice and encouragement to pursue a choosen career, with 25.9% of students reporting a significant impact. Physicians generally offered insight into a career in medicine and general advice for pursuing a career in medicine for, with 11.1% of students reporting a significant impact. Medical students, similarly, offered insight into the rigors of medical education and advice in navigating the college application process, with 14.8% of HCOP high school students citing a significant impact.

Conclusions

Parents were the most important support system among our cohort of high school students pursuing careers in medicine. Furthermore parents and friends mainly provided emotional support and motivation for students, while teachers, physicians, and medical students generally played an instrumental role--providing career advice and insight. Each role plays a different yet complementary role in the lives of high school pre-medical students, which can collectively form comprehensive support systems for students. Organizers of STEMM bridge programs can tailor program designs in order to capitalize on their inherent strengths in providing instrumental support and assist students in identifying and utilizing the different elements of their support network in order to promote diverse student recruitment and retention.

Our study explores AI use, like ChatGPT4, in medical education. It aims to identify a more efficient method in multiple-choice questions (MCQs) creation while ensuring coverage of basic science concepts. To increase engagement with difficult content, graduate students in biochemistry course were required to write MCQs based on learning objectives to build a self-assessment question bank under the supervision of faculty.

In the Master of Medical Health Science, a bridge program to Medical programs, selected students were tasked to use ChatGPT while the remainder of the class wrote questions manually. Half of the research assistants used a free version of ChatGPT, whereas the other half used ChatGPT4. Data collection included prompt iteration number, MCQ generation time, and hallucination rates. Faculty ensured that MCQs covered the necessary concepts and were hallucination-free before their use in self-assessment. Select AI-generated questions were included with faculty-generated questions in formative assessments. Using the first exam scores that did not have item writing assignment or formative assessment, students were classified into low-performing (LPS), medium-performing (MPS), and high-performing (HPS) categories. These students’ performance was tracked as the semester progressed. To evaluate the process, a survey, reviewed and validated, was deployed at the end of the semester.

Average iterations ranged between 1.1 to 2.1 whereas the time ranged between 1.8 to 7.5 minutes per question. The rate of hallucinations was 23 to 70% in the free version vs. 0 to 9% in ChatGPT4. ChatGPT4 generated MCQs used in the assessments had a point biserial of 0.42 in ExamSoft vs. 0.25 for MCQs manually created by faculty. The use of MCQ for formative assessment has improved the performance of LPS and MPS.

Indeed, students from the LPS moved into the MPS category while MPS joined the HPS category. Over 94% of students surveyed found AI-generated questions clear and beneficial for understanding basic science concepts. Above 95% agreed that AI-generated questions used in self-assessment improved their understanding of basic science concepts.

Higher prompt iterations were observed when prompts were complex, vignette questions. Lower hallucination rates were noted when more time was spent on prompt engineering. Considering the low hallucination rate and the efficiency in creating adequate vignette-style questions, it is advisable to use ChatGPT4. It is also noteworthy that the depth of knowledge of the user and the familiarity with prompt engineering are essential. Using point biserial as a quality indicator of ChatGPT4 generated MCQs, findings suggest that the use of these questions should be extended to summative assessment. Students had varying abilities to distinguish between AI-generated and faculty-generated vignette-style questions, underscoring the high quality of ChatGPT’s MCQs. Nearly 95% of students found ChatGPT4 questions highly satisfactory in assessing critical thinking and complex concepts.

Introduction/Background

The Johns Hopkins Underserved in the Medical Professions program (JUMP) is open to all JHU students and recent alums who are committed to pathways as health professionals who engage with culturally and economically diverse communities. Initially, we faced limited and sporadic engagement from our members, with many students disengaging and dropping off the prehealth pathway. This trend highlighted the need for a more structured and supportive approach to ensure sustained participation and advancement. Through our focus of developing an inclusive pathway program, we are pleased to present insights and strategies from JUMP. This poster will detail our methods to create a dynamic and supportive prehealth pathway for undergraduate students from socioeconomically and culturally diverse communities.

Methods

Our journey began with significant challenges in maintaining student engagement, which led us to reimagine our program structure and approach. Initially, we faced limited and sporadic engagement from our members, with many students disengaging and dropping off the prehealth pathway. This highlighted the need for a more structured and supportive approach to ensure sustained participation and advancement. To address these challenges, we restructured the JUMP membership into five key pillars: prehealth progression tracking, immersive experiences, leadership and community engagement, learning and skill development, and academic testing and application support. This new structure allowed us to collect detailed student data and tailor our interventions to meet the specific needs of our members. By aligning membership requirements with the expectations of various health professional programs, we ensured that our students received relevant and comprehensive support. We built robust partnerships with community organizations, healthcare institutions, and academic departments, providing our members with a wealth of experiential learning opportunities. These collaborations not only enhanced the practical skills of our students but also increased their exposure to the healthcare field. Importantly, we identified low-cost strategies to make these opportunities accessible, ensuring that financial barriers did not impede participation.

Relevance to ASPBP

We aim to share our success enhancing engagement and retention in prehealth pathways for JHU undergraduates from culturally and economically diverse populations.

Results

The restructured membership model and targeted interventions led to remarkable outcomes. Over nine months, student engagement increased to 225%, with a corresponding rise in the sense of belonging and identity within JUMP. Participation in our informational drop-in sessions indicated a higher level of proactive engagement and interest. These metrics reflect not only improved retention but also a thriving community where students are actively advancing on their prehealth journey.

Conclusions

The lessons learned from the JUMP program offer valuable insights into creating dynamic and inclusive prehealth pathways. By reimagining membership structures, fostering community partnerships, and delivering tailored support, educational institutions can significantly enhance the engagement and success of their students. Our experience underscores the importance of a holistic, student-centered approach in developing effective prehealth programs that not only retain but also empower students to achieve their professional aspirations.

Introduction

Georgia is ranked among the ten worst states for most health outcome measures. Rural Georgia communities face many unique challenges in achieving and maintaining health due to complex social, geographic, and economic factors. Of the state’s 159 counties, 64 of those counties have no pediatrician; 79 have no obstetrician/gynecologist; and nine have no doctor. Those areas, plus approximately 100 more rural counties with populations of less than 50,000, are classified by the federal government as medically underserved by primary care physicians. Recent workforce data indicates Georgia would need almost 600 additional primary care doctors to eliminate shortages. 

Methods

To help meet this need, Georgia 4-H partnered with Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) to offer a unique experience for 4-H youth interested in medical careers. MUSM's mission is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care needs of rural, medically underserved areas of Georgia. Many 4-H’ers are from these rural communities. “Setting Your Sights on Medical School” was developed for 9th-12th grade students to introduce, inspire, and empower rural Georgia youth to the pursuit of healthcare careers. Participants explore rural health needs, medical school resources, and admission requirements through interactive stations with MUSM faculty, staff, and students.

Results

Through this partnership, 123 youth visited Mercer’s campuses, interacted with medical school students, and learned about rural health in Georgia. Evaluations show a meaningful majority of participants rated all program components as effective:

• 99% have more knowledgeable of healthcare career opportunities
• 98% have more knowledge of resources to be successful in medical school
• 98% feel comfortable seeking more information about medical school
• 97% see medical school as an option
• 96% better understand academic requirements for medical school
• 95% have increased awareness of rural health needs
• 94% have increased understanding of the application process
• 92% are more motivated to attend medical school 

Conclusions 

There exists a need to educate Georgia high school students from rural areas about the benefits, need, and attainability of healthcare professions. By increasing awareness of medicine, programs like Setting Your Sights on Medical School, will assist in meeting the critical need for rural healthcare workers. The diverse seminars provided participants with an experiential, comprehensive picture of the health care career options available in the state. Several former participants have gone on to pursue a medical career and credit this collaboration for igniting a passion for rural health care and demonstrating that those aspirations were attainable.

Situational judgment tests (SJTs) bring the promise of providing admissions committees standardized information about candidates' preprofessional competencies to complement academic metrics and experiences in their applications. Although SJTs have been used in admissions for over a decade, their rising prominence in US medical school admissions following the COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about their use in admissions decisions. SJTs are also being considered to select high school students for entry to preprofessional undergraduate programs and shortlist candidates for residency. In 2022 and 2023, HPSA delivered an anonymous survey about the SJT experience in preparing and taking these virtual, asynchronous, video-based assessments. Our findings confirm those of the NAAHP Testing Task Force report (published September 2023) regarding Casper and PREview usage in medical school admissions. This presentation will include new insights from school-run SJT's (Kira Talent platform, for example) as their use has surprised many dental applicants this year. The use of these SJT's should be disclosed in the MSAR and DSE.

Introduction

For the past seven years the American Medical Association Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) at USUHS has been engaging the fifth and seventh grade classes at the Washington School for Girls with a range of interactive activities designed to stimulate and/or encourage a career in medicine. The majority of participating students are from low income, African-American communities and represent demographics that are severely underrepresented in medicine. With a series of surveys, this project aims to determine a) whether our efforts to develop and implement a range of medically oriented activities do in fact, result in an engaging and educational experience for these middle school students and b) whether participants develop an increased interest in medicine as a potential career path. This programmatic assessment of our educational outreach efforts will guide future curriculum planning for the USUHS based AMA-MSS and other organizations with similar goals. It could also provide information that could help enhance further development of universities' pipeline programs and other diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) related activities. Early results suggest success in both goals four months after the most recent event.

Methods

A day of innovative medical student-designed and student-led educational activities implemented for seventh grade level students from underrepresented backgrounds attending an all-girls school, with follow-up surveys beginning four months after the event to assess long-term impact.

Results

Subjective enjoyment, engagement, and increased interest in careers in medicine are documented in post-event surveys

Conclusions

The innovative events developed and shared in this project are engaging, memorable, and effective at increasing participant interest in medicine among female seventh grade students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Introduction

To address STEM pathways of diverse groups, STEM education research must focus on the growing number of Latinx students majoring in Biology. Additionally, prior research reveals that Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) that are community colleges are key in Latinx STEM pathways (Herrera, 2020). The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of Latinx students in Biology through critical and asset-based frameworks, the Latinx STEM cultural assets from Rendón et al. (2019) and Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) (Villalpando, 2004). This study is guided by the following research questions: 1) How do Latinx biology transfer students navigate the Biology Department? and 2) How do Latinx biology transfer students interact with Biology faculty and counselors?

Methods

This is a qualitative study with 10 Latinx Biology students who transferred into an Emerging HSI, located in Southern California. Participants are all first-generation college students. This study uses the culturally relevant methodology of pláticas, which draws from Chicana/Latina Feminist epistemology (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016). Two pláticas were conducted with each participant. The first plática focused on relationship building between the researcher and the research collaborators, explanation of the research project, and learning about the participants’ families and educational backgrounds. The second plática focused on participants’ experiences in STEM. The pláticas allowed for greater vulnerability and discussion on moments of racism and sexism in the STEM classroom (Garcia, 2024). Additionally, observations and reviews of documents were conducted. Memos and individual case reports were written for each participant to conduct a cross-case analysis. Lastly, a codebook was created and guided by the literature on Latinx students in STEM. 

Results

There are 3 salient themes for the findings. 1) Gendered differences, 2) Racism and Microaggressions with Biology counselors and Biology faculty and 3) (Un)traditional premed in Biology. Brief descriptions of each theme are provided below. 

1. Gendered differences. Latina transfer students experienced actions of exclusion based on their gender and race/ethnicity in small groups and lab work. Latinas describe moments of not fitting in and lacking a sense of belonging in the Biology major.
2. Racism and Microaggressions with Biology counselors and Biology faculty. Latinx Biology transfers experienced racism in their honors courses when they attempted to secure research opportunities, and when requesting letters of recommendation from STEM faculty.
3. (Un)traditional premed in biology. Latinx Biology transfers were highly aware of their status as premeds in introductory biology courses. Latinx students considered themselves untraditional premeds since they transferred from a community college.

Conclusion

This study advances STEM education research on Latinx Biology students through asset-based and culturally relevant methodology to reveal STEM experiences by Latinx Biology transfers who are pursuing graduate and medical school. Also, this study includes a discussion on how campus structures marginalize and uphold racism in the STEM learning environment. 

Introduction

This project explores the current scope of pre-matriculation programs in medical education and their ability to facilitate the transition of students into medical schools. This project’s goal is to create a conceptual framework that provides a comprehensive understanding of the variations in pre-matriculation initiatives in medical education. This poster will describe the problem, background, and study methods of an in-progress critical narrative review of pre-matriculation programs in literature.  

Methods

For the purpose of this review, we define a “pre-matriculation” as a program to support the transition of students who have been accepted into a medical school but who has (have) not yet matriculated into their respective program. As a part of this literature review, we aim to conduct a systematic search targeting published articles and grey literature on pre-matriculation initiatives in medical education from 1985 to 2024. We will utilize databases such as ProQuest, Google Scholar, Scopus and EBSCO, covering articles on pre-matriculation course goals, structure, outcomes, evaluations, and/or needs assessments.  

Results

Results of this project are pending completion of the literature review, estimated for fall 2024. Preliminary findings resulted in the development of a conceptual framework for considering the different models of pre-matriculation programs. This current project will build on these initial findings and will refine the conceptual framework.

Conclusions

Understanding the landscape of pre-matriculation programming is important both for educators/administrators leading or developing such programs. It is also important for students/applicants to understand options available to them as they select a health professions education/training program, as pre-matriculation programs can be an important first step for students at the beginning of their health professions training journey. 

Program Introduction/Background

The Duke University School of Medicine Master of Biomedical Sciences Program (MBS), an innovative 10-month professional postbaccalaureate program, will enroll its 10th class July 1, 2024. This milestone marks successful outcomes including graduation rates, enrollment into medical and other health professional schools, and employment. Our program recruits a diverse group of students including first-generation, underrepresented (34% Black/AA, 13% Hispanic/Latino, 14% Asian, 2% American Indian/American Native), English as a second language, rural born, and low socioeconomic status. The program includes rigorous coursework in biomedical sciences and patient-facing clinical exposure as Emergency Medical Technicians-Basic. Program strategies for student success include high touch advising for academic success; access to a learning strategist and tutorial support; a course on learning fundamentals. Students can choose among several selective courses including one on planning for health professional education. They participate in a longitudinal course Essentials for Practice and Professional Development providing a humanistic view of health. Students can access counseling support. The AAMC Competencies for Entering Medical Students are used to design courses and assessments. Learners work in teams deliberately constituted to maximize cognitive diversity. Students participate in a robust teaming curriculum with facilitation of team and personal development to optimize team-based learning. Diverse Interdisciplinary faculty are physician, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, and nursing faculty, and PhDs in the basic sciences.

Relevance to ASPBP

MBS is a postbaccalaureate starting its 10th class July 2024. To date 386 graduates, 2611 of the 277 graduates who applied to schools post MBS have been accepted, 97% to medical schools.

Target Population

Students from groups historically underrepresented in medical, health professions, and biomedical sciences.

Lessons Learned

Challenges and accomplishments, best practices, and/or innovations or general program framework description, transferability

• Placement as program within Duke University School of Medicine (DUSOM) provides opportunities.
• Students who take MCAT before and after MBS improved on average 20 percentile points.
• Team based learning optimized by deliberate construction of teams and intensive personal and team development.
• Learning specialist and tools such as LASSI have helped to identify relevant individualized learning strategies.
• Although MBS tuition is ~ 75% Duke undergraduate and 73% MD tuition, MBS tuition is still “high” with some, but limited, scholarship dollars.
• Diverse multidisciplinary/interprofessional passionate faculty.
• Pathway for physician scientist or PhD in biomedical sciences with support for 1-2 years post MBS mentored lab experience.
• Foundation grant support for collaboration with a partner medical school and conditional acceptance.
• Successful collaboration with DUSOM research and Health System for gap years clinical and research jobs after MBS.
• MBS successfully transitioned through covid.
• Budget negotiations are critical.
• Uncertain impact of SCOTUS decision on race neutral admissions.
• Would benefit from robust strategic plan for the next decade and specifically plan for faculty transitions, curricular enhancements, improved graduate/alumni networking, and better resourced recruitment.