October 2020
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85 Reads
MedEdPublish
Introduction: A novel survey tool was created in order to compare the professional development priorities of medical students by sex and year in training and to medical school faculty. Method: An electronic survey was developed and emailed to all first and second year medical students and medical school faculty across two campuses. Students ranked seven professional development needs and eight career development events in order of priority. Faculty ranked items based on what they thought would be priorities for medical students. Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric tests were used for all comparisons. Results: 65/200 (33%) students and 78/224 (35%) faculty responded. All students ranked future career planning as highest priority and financial planning as lowest priority. Students were most likely to attend career development events and least likely to attend social events. Males ranked networking (p<0.01) higher than females. Male and female faculty rankings and faculty vs. student rankings were not entirely consistent. Discussion: A novel survey tool was created which is easy to implement and analyze. Results imply sex-based differences in professional development priorities in early medical training. This survey tool can be used to address disparities in female student professional development and provide a more tailored experience for all medical students.