Survey of residency directors’ views on entrepreneurship

Abstract

Medical students enter the medicine field with fresh ideas that may make them great entrepreneurs. However, medical students are uncertain about how the program directors of their desired residency would view them if they pursued business opportunities. We surveyed residency directors to obtain their views on medical students’ entrepreneurship experiences. This viewpoint article aims to help American medical students who are interested in health innovations understand how their interests and entrepreneurial experiences may affect how they are viewed by residency program directors. Most program directors had favorable views of medical students with experience in entrepreneurship, and they believed that the innovative traits gained from such experiences would add to the program.