Step 1:
The must-pass exam
you were just about guaranteed a spot
in a residency program, followed by a
medical license and a lifetime of caring
for patients. The math was in your favor: The
number of students graduating was smaller than
the number of residency slots.
I
n the past, if you earned your M.D.,
Senior Associate Dean Alma Littles
Today, the math is more menacing. The
number of medical students has exploded,
“They feel like there’s just one exam that’s
to meet the mission we have, but we also know
while the number of residency slots has not. So going to determine the rest of their lives,” said that, unless they pass the licensing exams and
residency programs, drowning in applications, Alma Littles, senior associate dean for medical become licensed, they can’t see any patients.”
are desperate for a quick way to sift through education and academic affairs. “So their whole Through the Class of 2018, FSU’s average
them. At the moment, it appears that the best focus is on ‘I can’t just pass this exam – I have to passing rate for first-time takers of Step 1 was
one they’ve found is Step 1. do really, really, really well.’” 93 percent, compared with 94 percent across
That’s the shorthand term for the first
Littles said the faculty had noticed that
the U.S. and Canada. Once they get through
part of the United States Medical Licensing students were spending much more time in Step Step 1, the averages are even more encouraging.
Examination. Medical students nationwide 1 review books than in really learning enough Through the Class of 2017, FSU’s average
typically take it late in Year 2 – though they to both pass the exam and take care of patients. passing rate for first-time takers of Step 2 was
obsess over it from Day 1. So now the curriculum sets aside six weeks of 98 percent, compared with 96 percent across
study time for Step 1. Some students even get the U.S. and Canada.
extra time.
In part, that curriculum feature springs from fearsome Step 1, medical schools – including
the College of Medicine’s mission of serving the FSU’s – are doing their best to help establish
underserved by recruiting students who have more residency programs to keep up with the
lived in underserved communities. demand.
“We purposely reach out to enroll students
MEDICAL BURNOUT
And as they’re preparing their students for the
“In every state in the country,” Littles said,
who come from backgrounds where “you have to have at least one year of residency
standardized test-taking may not be their training to qualify for a license. Without a
strongest suit,” Littles said. “We feel like they license, there’s no medicine you can practice
have all the traits to be an excellent physician legally.”
Physician burnout now affects
more than half of U.S. doctors.
Physicians face burnout at double
the rate of other U.S. professions.
Approximately 400 physicians
commit suicide each year, or about
one each day.
(From “The Epidemic of Physician
Burnout,” Sept. 9, 2017, Gold
Foundation website)
That suicide rate is more than two
times higher than in the general
population.
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