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AAMC Responds to Public Citizen's Complaints About Medical School Graduation Survey

For Immediate Release

Press Release

Contact: Retha Sherrod
202-828-0975
rsherrod@aamc.org

Washington, D.C., July 23, 2003 - Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., issued the following statement in response to Public Citizen's allegations about AAMC's Graduation Questionnaire:

"Public Citizen's recent correspondence on the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of this survey. Since 1978, U.S. medical schools have used the GQ to evaluate their education programs. The detailed feedback provided by students each year has proved invaluable in maintaining this country's superior system of medical education. Medical schools encourage full participation by their students in order for the GQ to serve as an effective quality improvement tool. Student answers are kept strictly confidential. Identifiable data is released only to the student's own school and only with the student's express permission. Identifiable data is never released to other schools or to third parties.

Over the years, the AAMC and other parties have utilized pooled, de-identified data from the GQ to answer important questions about the nature of American medical education in general. In every case, the data provided to researchers are aggregated and confidential. In keeping with recent trends in social science research, the AAMC decided several months ago to take the added precaution of submitting the GQ for review by an institutional review board (IRB)."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.