Minority Med School Enrollment Programs Effective
Programs created to increase the medical school enrollment of minority and disadvantaged students appear to be effective, concludes a recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association.
Postbaccalaureate premedical programs that target minority and disadvantaged students, most of whom have previously applied unsuccessfully for admission to medical school, were found to be highly effective, the study found. Currently, more than 75 institutions offer such programs.
Dr. Kevin Grumbach and Eric Chen of the University of California, San Francisco, studied five UC postbaccalaureate premedical programs to see how effective they were in increasing admission rates. The study included 265 participants in the programs from 1999 to 2002 and a control group of 396 college graduates who applied to the programs but did not participate. Sixty-six percent of the participants were under-represented minorities.
According to Grumbach and Chen, postbaccalaureate programs deliver positive results because they require only a single year of intervention and target students who are committed to a career in medicine. The programs also have a short timeline for achieving their payoff.
“The continued support and expansion of postbaccalaureate premedical programs is an important strategy for increasing the diversity of the physician work force … related programs may threaten the continued existence of many postbaccalaureate programs that have traditionally received support from these federal programs,” reads the study.
The findings are important because many ethnic groups remain under-represented in the medical profession, although a diverse physician work force is important for increasing access to health care for underserved populations. In 2000, Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians comprised more than 25 percent of the U.S. population but only 7 percent of the nation’s physicians.
