Senior medical students' knowledge of and attitudes toward anesthesiology in ten medical schools
The American Society of Anesthesiologists has sponsored a national preceptorship program in anesthesiology for medical students since 1966. The purpose of the program is to enhance students' understanding of and interest in anesthesiology. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the first 5 years of the program has been completed. There were no statistically significant differences between students who had and had not participated in the preceptorship program in their correct responses to the 6 knowledge areas over which they were questioned. Significantly more students who had participated in the preceptorship program than students who had not taken a preceptorship considered their skills in endotracheal intubation and positive pressure ventilation more adequate. There was no statistically significant difference between the attitudes of the 2 groups of students toward anesthesiology; 73% of the seniors who had taken a preceptorship said that their attitudes toward anesthesiology were more positive now than they had been in the early years of medical school; 62% of the seniors who had not participated in the program admitted to more positive attitudes toward the specialty as seniors than as preclinical students.