| The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived amount, importance, and satisfaction of preventive medicine education among 4th-year medical school students in one northeastern United States medical school. Although preventive and health promotion care practices have been available for many years (Ludmerer, 1999), their implementation has been inconsistent and inadequate. Because physicians practice what they have learned, the logical place to turn for reform is medical schools. This quantitative study used a Likert-type questionnaire as the instrument. Statistical analysis included descriptive percentages, means, standard deviations, ANOVAs, post hoc Scheffé analyses, and quadrant analysis. Overall, 4th-year medical students in this study were satisfied with their education, had a perceived importance of preventive medicine, and identified that they had received a substantial amount of preventive medicine education in some of the preventive care areas. Correlation analyses determined that students received more instruction in areas of preventive medicine that they indicated were important. |
