The changing perceptions of junior medical students about the current US health care system after a seminar series

In the last few years dramatic changes have occurred in the way health care is delivered and financed in the United States. Academic medical centers h ave been slow in helping students understand what these changes will mean. We developed a series of student-run seminars and attempted to study what e ffect these seminars had on the students' attitudes towards many aspects of the current health care environment. We used recent journal articles as th e basis for a student-lcd seminar series addressing many issues in the curr ent health care environment. A previously developed 33-item survey was admi nistered to the students before and after the seminars to evaluate any chan ges that occurred in their attitudes towards the evolving health care syste m. The students' responses showed significant changes on eight of the items surveyed. These included a more negative feeling about non-physician healt h care providers, a greater appreciation of the need for physicians to beco me more actively involved with social issues, and a greater understanding o f the financial aspects of medicine. After a student-led seminar series the re were significant changes in students' attitudes regarding several aspect s of the changing health care environment in the United States.