Accepted Type
Dedicated Poster
Code
LP4 - 08
Acceptance Declaration
Accept
Additional Information
I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Poster
Sub Type
Education Research
Will the presenter be a:
Student
Affiliation
Title
Descriptive analysis of the medical student population at the University of Ottawa
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
A diverse medical school population enhances student preparedness and motivation to care for underserved communities. We recognized a lack of information regarding class profiles of the University of Ottawa medical students compared to statistics released by other Canadian medical schools. Our purpose was to collect and report this data to increase transparency of diversity amongst medical students.
Methods
An online questionnaire was developed to encompass the demographic, educational and socio-economic background of uOttawa cohorts MD2020-MD2023, with the link distributed from February to May 2020.
Results
The response rate was 63%, and 65% were female. The most represented age group was 21-23 (71%). A majority completed a 4-year degree (59%) and 80% had a GPA of 3.9-4.0. There was an under-representation of Black and Aboriginal students (2.7%, 0.5%), and an over-representation of Asian/Pacific Islanders (22%), as compared to data from the latest Canadian census. Only 8% of students overcame financial barriers, with 55% having a household income of over $100,000. 24% overcame social barriers and 8% educational barriers. Respondents were diverse in spoken language (23%), immigrant status (20%) and visible minority status (36%). A majority of students (63%) wished to know more about uOttawa's medical candidates at the time of their application.
Conclusion
While the medical student population at the University of Ottawa is indeed diverse, noticeable differences remain when compared to the Canadian population. Increasing the transparency of medical student diversity is desirable by the majority of respondents and could promote the University's social accountability.
Keyword 1
Diversity
Keyword 2
Transparency
Keyword 3
Admission
Level of Training
Undergraduate
Abstract Themes
Admissions
Additional Theme (First choice)
Undergraduate
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Faculty Development
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Authors
Presenter
Kathryne DesAutels
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
