Medical schools aim to take bright students and transform them into physicians prepared for the transition to residency training. Still, that requires a certain skill set from first-year medical students.
Laid out by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the core competencies for entering medical school consist of a list of 17 skills the ideal medical student should possess. The list is broken down into three groups. Preprofessional competencies, thinking and reasoning competencies and science competencies.
For incoming medical students, the list offers a range of skills upon which one can brush up in the weeks leading up to the beginning of training.
Preprofessional competencies
This group of competencies is the largest and most broadly interpreted list of competencies. The nine competencies in this group are:
- Commitment to learning and growth.
- Cultural awareness.
- Cultural humility.
- Empathy and compassion.
- Ethical responsibility to self and others.
- Interpersonal skills.
- Oral communication.
- Reliability and dependability.
- Resilience and adaptability.
- Service orientation.
- Teamwork and collaboration.
How one goes about gaining these core competencies can vary, but a number of them are possible to hone through volunteer work. Medical schools often have a number of opportunities for students to get involved, such as free clinics.
At the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the JayDoc Free Clinic offers medical students a unique opportunity to strengthen many of these competencies from day one. Run entirely by students, JayDoc provides free care to underserved populations in Kansas City while giving future physicians hands-on experience in teamwork, communication, service orientation and adaptability.
A second-year medical student, AMA member Ella Wright is one of JayDoc’s executive directors. She began working with the organization as a first-year medical student.
“Going to JayDoc really reminds you why it all matters,” Wright said. “We're not doctors yet. Someday we're going to be. But this allows us to start practicing to be a doctor and start to develop those skills. It brings the science and the humanity together and reminds you why it's all important.”
The University of Kansas School of Medicine is a member of the AMA UME Curricular Enrichment Program, which provides on-demand education through a micro-learning approach to help medical students distinguish themselves for residency and succeed in medicine. Educators can assign specific elements such as health care business fundamentals and developing leadership skills and receive reports on student progress, track via a dashboard, send reminder emails and customize reports. Schedule an introductory call now.
Science competencies
The science competencies expected from medical students were likely covered in your undergraduate training or in some form of your preparation for the Medical College Admission Test. Just two of the 17 core competencies fall into this category, described below.
Living systems: The AAMC says the incoming medical student should be one who “applies knowledge and skill in the natural sciences to solve problems related to molecular and macro systems, including biomolecules, molecules, cells and organs.”
Human behavior: The ideal incoming student “applies knowledge of the self, others, and social systems to solve problems related to the psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors that influence health and well-being.”
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While all the competencies are rooted in a student’s scholastic experience, these two are the most rooted in a prospective medical student’s formal education. Portions of human behavior may be related to the structural and social determinants of health, which are possible to explore through your own volunteer work or lived experiences.
Subha Hanif, MD, completed a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at Mary Free Bed Hospital in Rochester, Michigan and is currently in her fellowship training at the University of Michigan’s Cancer Rehabilitation Program. Prior to beginning her medical training at Michigan State College of Human Medicine, she gained insight on factors that influence health and well-being during her undergraduate work running lectures on women’s health in Southeast Detroit.
“At a young age, I learned about disparities in care and became interested in how medicine plays a role in that,” Dr. Hanif said.
Thinking and reasoning competencies
While they may be a little less fact and knowledge driven than the science competencies listed above, the thinking and reasoning competencies also tend to be arenas students build through their scholastic endeavors.
The four competencies that fall in this category are:
- Critical thinking.
- Quantitative reasoning.
- Scientific inquiry.
- Written communication.
One avenue through which medical students can sharpen their thinking and reasoning skills is by volunteering to help with research.
According to Frederick Chen, MD, engaging in research helps early-stage medical students develop critical skills that translate into stronger clinical reasoning.
“That experience of coming up with new questions, learning scientific methods, working in a laboratory, working on a team, all of those skills are really, really useful for doctors,” said Dr. Chen, the AMA’s chief health & science officer.
