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Background: Several studies indicate that doctors who work in the same area of the medical profession tend to behave somehow similarly. Thus, it has been suggested that personality relates to the medical specialty choice. However, it is not known whether people self-select into the medical specialties according to their personality or the professional practice in a particular field influences their behavior. Aim: To explore the possible association between the graduate's personality features and learning styles and their chosen specialty. Subjects and Methods: The psychological preferences and learning styles of 65 students of the 2001-graduating cohort of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Medicine were evaluated with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, respectively. These variables were correlated with the information of their specialty choice or occupation two years after graduation. Results: Graduates distributed unevenly in different areas of the medical profession. Surgical specialties concentrated a larger proportion of extraverted, intuitive and structured doctors, whereas in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine predominated intuitive and people-oriented MD's. Primary Care concentrated individuals with introverted, intuitive and flexible attitudes. Convergent learners (interested in problem-solving) preferred Surgery and Primary Care whereas Assimilator learners (abstract-reflexive) chose more frequently Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. Conclusions: According to their personality and learning style, graduates tend to self-select into different medical specialties. This information may help medical graduates to guide their specialty choice process, and medical educators to develop learning experiences that take into account the individual differences of their residents.

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Background: The similarity between the psychological features of medical school freshmen of different cohorts suggests that Medicine attracts students with specific psychological types. However, it is also possible that medical students are similar to the students admitted to any other career with high admission requirements. Aim: To determine if medical school freshmen are different from those of Engineering, Architecture, Psychology and Journalism. Subjects and methods: The Spanish version of the Myers Briggs Psychological Type Indicator (MBTI) was applied to two cohorts of Medical School freshmen (90 students of the 2000 cohort and 91 students of the 2001 cohort) and to a sample of 669 freshmen from the careers of Engineering, Psychology, Architecture and Journalism. Results: Students entering Medical School are similar to the students admitted to Engineering and different from those that entered Architecture, Psychology and Journalism in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2000 and 2001. Medicine attracts a larger proportion of concrete and practical students that have an objective and systematic approach to study and to life in general. Unlike Medicine, Psychology and Architecture attract more students that have a cognitive style characterized by an intuitive perception, and that face life with an open and flexible attitude. Conclusions. This study reveals that the psychological features of undergraduate students are associated to their career choice. These psychological variables, therefore, may be relevant to the students' vocational preferences and possibly to their future specialty choice.

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Background: During the last decade, academic life at the medical school of the Pontificia Universidad Cat-lica de Chile has been thoroughly affected by a curricular reform process. Changes started in 1993 and have continued up until now. This reform did not have an experimental design to allow for a scientific evaluation of its effects. However, it seems interesting to study the evolution of indices of academic performance of our students during this period. Aim: To evaluate the academic performance of medical students between 1989 and 1999. Subjects and Methods: All undergraduate students enrolled between 1989 and 1999. Academic performance was evaluated by 1) failure to pass one or more courses, 2) delay to complete the third year of studies, 3) withdrawal from school and 4) medical school grades. Results: All indices of academic performance changed during the period of study. Failure to pass, delay and withdrawal from school significantly decreased, whereas medical school grades improved, particularly in basic and pre-clinical subjects. Conclusions: Academic performance of medical students improved consistently between 1989 and 1999. While specific causal relationships cannot be established, we believe that this improvement is likely related to the curricular reform. This reform included horizontal and vertical integration of academic contents, greater emphasis in problem-based learning and additional instances of evaluation such as the repetition exam

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El método tradicional de enseñanza de la anatomía humana establece la necesidad de la práctica con material humano. Sin embargo, el uso de software de diseño y hardware apropiado, previo a las disecciones y la opción de revisar en linea el contenido del curso, ha pasado a ser muy útil como agregado a los métodos tradicionales de enseñanza. El curso se basó en elos conceptos psicopedagógicos de enseñanza de Ausubel, Piaget y Vigotski y hemos producido programas apropiados como: clase presencial modular interactiva: en ella se desarrolla un módulo interactivo en que un profesor actúa como facilitador. Pabellón en línea: imágenes obtenidas de las disecciones que están efectuándose en el pabellón, durante el curso, se publican en el sitio web de la Universidad para permitir su revisión a distancia. Club. Es un ambiente colaborativo en que se inscriben voluntariamente los estudiantes que han obtenido calificaciones bajas. A través del correo electrónico y de software especiales se les otorga apoyo. La opinión prevalente de los estudiantes es que los programas computacionales constituyen un importante apoyo para facilitar el aprendizaje. Una estadística de las notas obtenidas y otros parámetros académicos indican que sometidos a evaluaciones de la misma rigurosidad que en cursos anteriores, los promedios se mantuvieron o mejoraron, no obstante, haberse incrementado importantemente el número de estudiantes en el curso de primer año

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Background: In the last decades, the number of Universities with medical schools has increased dramatically in our country. Aim: To introduce a conceptual model to estimate the number of physicians that are incorporated to the profession in Chile every year as well as the cumulative number of active physicians in specific time frame. To provide information about the number of available physicians in the country and compare it with the international context. Material and methods: This model includes information about the number of students that are admitted in all medical schools of the country, the dropout rate, the number of immigrant physicians from other countries, and the cumulative number of active physicians in the previous period. Results: There is an increased number of new medical students starting in 1994 that will produce, starting in 2001, a significant increased in the number of new physicians graduated from Chilean Universities. Meanwhile the increased number of new physicians in recent years is mainly explained by a significant increase in immigrant physicians. The number of active physicians estimated by the year 2000 is 18,549 and this number will be 25,704 by the year 2007. With these estimated numbers, we introduce a qualitative model that allowed us to compare the current number of active physicians in Chile with other countries, especially those with a comparable degree of development. This model uses first The Human Development Index and later the per capita income of different countries adjusted by purchasing power in USA. According to these calculations, Chile has a lower number of physicians than similar countries, and this difference will persist, even after the significant increase in the new physicians expected for the new future. Conclusions: Chile continues to have a lower number of physicians than countries with similar human development indices

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Background: Traditionally, medical schools demand their students a high dedication in time, responsibility and integrity. Aim: To assess the predictive capacity of several specific variables, on the academic performance of medical students. Material and methods: All students who entered during 1984-1995 period were studied. The academeic performance was assessed using two indices: an overall evaluation of successfulness as determined by the approval rate in different courses and grade-point average obtained during the first three years at the Medical School. The variables used to predict academic performance were year of enrollment, high school grades, university admission test scores, biomedical and demographic characteristics. All these were meassured at the time when the student was enrolled. Results: Eight hundred and eight students were studied at the end of the third year. The most important predictive variables selected for both performance indices were: high school grades, admission biology test scores, place were high school studies were done, and previous university studies. In addition verbal and mathematics admission academic performance tests scores were selected for grade-point average index. Although, the overall admission score and high school academic performance were significantly associated with the two outcomes, they were not selected in the final models. Conclusions: The best predictors of an optimal academic performance in these medical students were high school grades, admission bilogy test scores, residing in Metropolitan Santiago and previous university studies

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