Accelerating medical education: a survey of deans and program directors.
BACKGROUND
A handful of medical schools in the U.S. are awarding medical degrees after three years. While the number of three-year pathway programs is slowly increasing there is little data on the opinions of medical education leaders on the need for shortening training.


OBJECTIVE
To survey deans and program directors (PDs) to understand the current status of 3-year medical degree programs and to elicit perceptions of the need for shortening medical school and the benefits and liabilities of 3-year pathway programs (3YPP).


METHODS
Online surveys were emailed to the academic deans of all U.S. medical schools and to a convenience sample of residency and fellowship PDs. Frequency distributions are reported for key survey items and content analysis was used to describe open-ended responses.


RESULTS
Of the respondents, 7% have a 3YPP, 4% were developing one, and 35% were considering development. In 2014, 47% of educational deans and 32% of PDs agreed that there may be a need to shorten medical school. From a list of benefits, both deans and PDs agreed that the greatest benefit to a 3YPP was debt reduction (68%). PDs and deans felt reduced readiness for independence, reduced exposure to complementary curricula regarding safety and quality improvement, premature commitment to a specialty, and burnout were all potential liabilities. From a list of concerns, PDs were concerned about depth of clinical exposure, direct patient care experience, ability to assume increased responsibility, level of maturity, and certainty regarding career choice.


CONCLUSIONS
Over one-third of medical schools are considering the development of a 3YPP. While there may be benefits for a select group of students, concerns regarding maturity, depth of clinical exposure, and competency must be addressed for these programs to be well received.
Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; Joan.cangiarella@nyumc.org.
Joan
J
Cangiarella
Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Colleen
C
Gillespie
Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Judy A
JA
Shea
Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Gail
G
Morrison
Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Steven B
SB
Abramson
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
accelerated training; curriculum development; three-year MD