TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of American Association of Neurological Surgeons Medical Student Interest Groups on Participation in Organized Neurosurgery, Research Productivity, and Residency Match Success
AU - Agarwal, Prateek
AU - Khalafallah, Adham M.
AU - Hersh, Eliza H.
AU - Ivan, Michael E.
AU - Mukherjee, Debraj
N1 - Funding Information:
The benefits of medical student chapters are particularly important for applicants who are not enrolled at highly ranked medical schools that have strong neurosurgery residency programs and National Institutes of Health funding. These students often begin their residency application process at an inherent disadvantage because their institution lacks perceived prestige or research opportunities. Our study's finding that chapters affiliated with top 20 medical schools and top 20 residency programs are more active likely reflects this disadvantage to some extent. Chapters can help medical students overcome this impediment by connecting them with mentors at other institutions, introducing valuable fellowship opportunities (e.g., YNC MISSION Fellowship, Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship, Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS)/CNS Medical Student Socioeconomic Fellowship), and developing crucial aforementioned interpersonal skills.
Funding Information:
The authors thank Chris Phillips (American Association of Neurological Surgeons Executive Office Management, Director of Member Services) for assistance with data collection. The Medical Student in Organized Neurosurgery (MISSION) Fellowship was sponsored by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Young Neurosurgeons Committee.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - Background: In 2014, the Young Neurosurgeons Committee under the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) began allowing medical schools to create AANS Medical Student Chapters. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of these chapters on participation in organized neurosurgery, research productivity, and residency match success. Methods: Chapter membership and activity data were collected and analyzed from 2014–2019 annual reports. Results: The number of chapters increased rapidly during 2014–2019 from 12 to 121. The mean number of chapter members attending the AANS annual meeting trended upward during 2014–2019, from 1.25 to 1.67. Neurosurgery-related abstracts submitted, abstracts accepted, and publications authored by chapters have fluctuated with yearly means of 1.96, 1.76, and 9.29, respectively. Chapters from top 20 medical schools generally attended the annual meeting in greater numbers (2017–2018: 3.00 vs. 1.32, P = 0.076; 2018–2019: 2.92 vs. 1.43, P = 0.025), submitted more abstracts (2017–2018: 4.20 vs. 1.10, P = 0.021; 2018–2019: 4.09 vs. 1.87, P = 0.066), and had more abstracts accepted (2017–2018: 3.00 vs. 1.05, P = 0.043; 2018–2019: 3.63 vs. 1.81, P = 0.09). Chapters with high residency match success had a higher number of publications (11.4 vs. 3.3, P = 0.03) and twice the number of members attending the annual meeting (1.9 vs. 0.9, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Since their inception, AANS Medical Student Chapters have demonstrated substantial research productivity and involvement in organized neurosurgery. Furthermore, there is an association between higher chapter activity, manifested by publications and annual meeting attendance, and increased residency match success.
AB - Background: In 2014, the Young Neurosurgeons Committee under the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) began allowing medical schools to create AANS Medical Student Chapters. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of these chapters on participation in organized neurosurgery, research productivity, and residency match success. Methods: Chapter membership and activity data were collected and analyzed from 2014–2019 annual reports. Results: The number of chapters increased rapidly during 2014–2019 from 12 to 121. The mean number of chapter members attending the AANS annual meeting trended upward during 2014–2019, from 1.25 to 1.67. Neurosurgery-related abstracts submitted, abstracts accepted, and publications authored by chapters have fluctuated with yearly means of 1.96, 1.76, and 9.29, respectively. Chapters from top 20 medical schools generally attended the annual meeting in greater numbers (2017–2018: 3.00 vs. 1.32, P = 0.076; 2018–2019: 2.92 vs. 1.43, P = 0.025), submitted more abstracts (2017–2018: 4.20 vs. 1.10, P = 0.021; 2018–2019: 4.09 vs. 1.87, P = 0.066), and had more abstracts accepted (2017–2018: 3.00 vs. 1.05, P = 0.043; 2018–2019: 3.63 vs. 1.81, P = 0.09). Chapters with high residency match success had a higher number of publications (11.4 vs. 3.3, P = 0.03) and twice the number of members attending the annual meeting (1.9 vs. 0.9, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Since their inception, AANS Medical Student Chapters have demonstrated substantial research productivity and involvement in organized neurosurgery. Furthermore, there is an association between higher chapter activity, manifested by publications and annual meeting attendance, and increased residency match success.
KW - Medical student education
KW - Medical student mentorship
KW - Medical student research
KW - Neurosurgery interest group
KW - Organized neurosurgery
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082459291&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85082459291&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.wneu.2020.02.153
DO - 10.1016/j.wneu.2020.02.153
M3 - Article
C2 - 32147562
AN - SCOPUS:85082459291
SN - 1878-8750
VL - 138
SP - e437-e444
JO - World neurosurgery
JF - World neurosurgery
ER -