Is a third year clerkship in emergency medicine correlated with a career choice in emergency medicine?

Background: The factors medical students use to choose emergency medicine (EM) as a career path have not been well studied. The role of a 3rd year clerkship in EM in a student's choice of EM residency is not known. Purpose: The purpose of this survey was to determine whether a 3rd year clerkship in EM is correlated with a student's choosing EM as a career choice, as evidenced by the number of students who apply for or matching in EM in medical schools in the United States. Methods: The deans of American medical schools were surveyed by mail, using a seven-part questionnaire inquiring as to type of exposure, number of students, length of the exposure, number of students applying for and matching in EM in the past 3 years. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The survey was returned by 71 of the 125 medical schools (56.8%) in the country. The average class size was 129.9 students. Over one half of the medical schools (58.8%) provided EM exposure in the 3rd year; in 38.7% it was a required clerkship. The number of students applying for or matching in EM was not correlated with a required or elective rotation in EM, departmental status, percentage of board certified emergency physicians, emergency department volume, or a residency training program in EM (p <.05). Conclusions: This study did not demonstrate a correlation of a 3rd year rotation in EM with the number of students applying or matching in EM. Copyright (C) 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.