Presence of the basic sciences in the National Examination for Medical Residencies Applicants in Mexico (ENARM)

Abstract

Introduction: The Flexner report emphasized the importance of the basic sciences in the medical curriculum.

Objective: To determine the presence and importance given to basic sciences in the ENARM.

Methods: We performed an observational, retrospective, transversal study. We reviewed the academic content of the programs included in the basic sciences curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM and classified the 1 200 medical knowledge questions that shaped the 2005 and 2006 ENARM. For the analysis of the results was used for chi square test X2.

Results: We found that 288 (24%) of the 1 200 questions analyzed explored basic science knowledge and that this percentage is below that corresponding to the academic credits granted to the basic sciences in the medical curriculum (31%). Also, that the physiological sciences are more represented (13.5%) than the morphological disciplines (10.5%), being Pharmacology (8%) the subject with more representation; at the other extreme were Histology (1.3%) and Immunology (1.2%).

Conclusion: The presence of basic science in ENARM confirms the importance given to biomedical knowledge in medical education and practice of good medicine. It is suggested to maintain and, if possible, increase its presence in all assessments in medicine.