[Critical reading for medical residents in main specialties].
OBJECTIVE
To explore ability for critical reading of clinical research reports in groups of residents of four specialties: internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery and gynecology/obstetrics.


METHODS
A research was carried out in medical residents of 12 hospitals of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social: 143 of internal medicine, 119 of pediatrics, 74 of general surgery and 74 of gynecology/obstetrics. An instrument was built and validated in order to explore the critical reading by three domains: interpretation, judgements and proposals.


RESULTS
No significant effect of years of training on the critical reading of clinical research reports was observed. The overall scores were low (maximum: 120): internal medicine = 35, pediatrics = 29, general surgery = 24.5 and gynecology/obstetrics = 25. 116 students (28%) obtained scores below of the level expected by chance.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggest that the training is not very fruitful in the development of the critical reading ability of clinical research reports, a low development of this ability was observed in medical residents.
Leyva González
F A
FA
Unidad de Medicina Familiar No. 10, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), Xalapa, México, D.F.
Viniegra Velázquez
L
L
D004521:Educational Measurement; D007396:Internship and Residency; D011932:Reading