The following excerpt from the LCME website (www.lcme.org) explains the purpose of the Medical Student Survey.
“Independent student analysis. A separate analysis, conducted by students, is a critical element of the accreditation process. This should be started twelve months prior to the site visit and completed in time for mailing with the medical education database and institutional self-study (about three months prior to the visit). Assistance may be obtained from the medical school administration in handling the logistics of the student review, but the analysis and conclusions should be the students' own.
The student analysis should be based on comprehensive data collection that includes input from students in all four years and covers a wide range of subjects of importance to students. In preparing the student analysis, it is important to consider that broad and quantified data from the student body (for example, through a questionnaire distributed to all students) are needed.
The organizers of the student review should familiarize themselves with Functions and Structure of a Medical School, which contains the accreditation standards used by the LCME. It is available on the LCME web site.
The following general areas should be included in the student analysis:
- Accessibility of dean(s) and faculty members
- Participation of students in medical school committees
- Curriculum, including workload, quality of required courses and clerkships, instructional formats, balance between scheduled class time and time for independent learning
- Student evaluation, including the grading system, and amounts and timeliness of feedback
- System for the evaluation of courses or clerkships and teachers, and whether identified problems are corrected
- Student support services and counseling systems (personal, academic, career, financial aid), including adequacy and availability
- Student health, including adequacy, availability, and confidentiality, and availability and cost of health and disability insurance
- Facilities, including quality of educational space, availability of study and relaxation space, security on campus and at affiliated clinical sites
- Library facilities, including access and quality of holdings, and computer resources; and
- The learning environment, including policies and procedures to deal with harassment or abuse.”
The JHUSOM Medical Student Survey was conducted in January-February 2005.
