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| Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2003): |
Increasing access to medical education for students from medically underserved communities: one program's success.
Full Abstract
The Premedical Honors College (PHC) is an eight-year, BS-MD program created in 1994 by Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and The University of Texas-Pan American (UT-PA) to increase the number of physicians addressing the health care needs of underserved populations in Texas. The PHC targets South Texas, a 13-county, medically underserved area with a population that is 82% Hispanic. To date, the PHC has had 159 matriculants and 71 graduates, of whom 60 (84.5%) have matriculated into medical school. These results are significant considering that in 1996, only four students from all five South Texas colleges (combined enrollment of 30000 students) were accepted to medical school. An outcomes study comparing PHC matriculants with students of similar academic ability, ethnicity, and interest in medicine revealed that the odds of medical school matriculation were seven times higher for PHC students than for non-PHC students. The PHC's initial success has been acknowledged by the Texas legislature, which recently passed a bill to promote the PHC's replication. In addition, the number of PHC students-of whom 95% are Mexican American-who matriculate into medical school annually is significant nationally. In 2001, only 386 U.S. medical school matriculants (2.3% of all matriculants) were Mexican American; 17 of these students (4.4%) were PHC graduates. If current trends continue, the PHC could significantly expand the number of physicians serving minority and medically underserved populations in Texas and the nation. Also, the PHC provides an opportunity for research on programs designed to create pathways from high school to medical school.
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Author information
Author/s: Thomson, William A (WA); Ferry, Pamela G (PG); King, Jason E (JE); Martinez-Wedig, Cindy (C); Michael, Lloyd H (LH);
Affiliation: Center for Collaborative and Interactive Technologies (CCIT), Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Houston, Texas 77030, USA. wthomson(-atsign-)bcm.tmc.edu
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Journal: Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (Acad Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-May; vol 78 (issue 5) : pp 454-9
Dates: Created 2003/05/13; Completed 2003/06/19; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12742779, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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