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More med students facing background checks

Substance abuse and a murder in Arkansas are among the incidents that prompted schools to dig deeper into students' pasts.

By Myrle Croasdale, amednews staff. Nov. 7, 2005.

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Criminal background checks for medical students may one day be the norm.

Pressured by hospitals and health care organizations, more medical schools are checking out students' backgrounds before they start classes, medical educators say. While the issue has been on the table for a while, a 2004 murder by an Arkansas medical student heightened awareness.

At least 28 of the 145 U.S. medical schools are screening students this year. That number is expected to increase after the Assn. of American Medical Colleges recommended this summer that all of its members conduct background checks and as the American Assn. of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine considers the issue.

"It's part of an overall attempt to clean up the profession," said Judith Westman, MD, associate dean for student affairs and medical education administration at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. "There is a better realization that medical students are people too, and we can't assume just because they're intelligent that they are immune from character flaws or other issues."

But the shift doesn't come without questions.

For example, Tom Levitan, AACOM vice president for research and applicant services, said schools need to decide whether to charge students for the background checks, which can cost between $40 and $100 per student.

Schools also need to consider how they will respond when something negative is discovered, he said.

"Juvenile data appears in some states; in others it doesn't," Levitan said. "What do you do with someone who is 25, but at 17 had a DUI arrest? Is reform possible? That's where all these questions start to get very complicated."