Military medicine interest groups in U.S. medical schools

Abstract

Medical student interest groups are organizations that help expose students to different medical specialties and fields of medicine while in medical school. Military medicine interest groups (MMIGs) are a particular type of interest group that spreads information about military medicine, fosters mentorship, and camaraderie between students and military faculty, and increases the opportunities for leadership while in medical school. Surveys were sent to all U.S. medical schools to determine how many schools had an MMIG. If a medical school had a group, a second survey was sent to the student leader to determine more information about how their group operated (such as type of participants, funding sources, activities, faculty involvement, military health care provider involvement, etc.). Fifty-six percent of U.S. medical schools who responded were found to have an MMIG and most participants were students in the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Information about military medicine was found to be the biggest impact of having a group at a medical school and student leaders expressed they wished to have more military health care provider involvement. The results of this study could help start MMIGs at other medical schools, as well as give ideas to current MMIGs on how other groups operate.