Approach of statistics syllabi in medical schools of Mexico

Abstract

Introduction: Acquiring the ability to perform and interpret statistics in research is a fundamental skill for undergraduate students. However, in 2020, only 45.2% of the curricula of Mexican medical schools accredited by the Mexican Council for the Accreditation of Medical Education (COMAEM) included at least one medical statistics course. Therefore, this study aims to determine biostatistics courses’ content and teaching approaches in Mexican medical school programs. Methods: This study involved a comprehensive review of biostatistics courses offered in all Mexican medical schools accredited by the Mexican Council for the Accreditation of Medical Education. A rigorous five-phase process was conducted to obtain the course curricula, which included searching for e-mail addresses on official websites, making phone calls, and scouting social media. The collected curricula were categorized according to their respective teaching approaches. Results: The data were collected from 42 out of 67 possible medical school programs (62.68% response rate). The analysis revealed that while 66.7% of the syllabi included descriptive statistics, only 50% of them covered hypothesis testing for inferential statistics. The most common teaching approach was research methodology, accounting for 45.2% of the programs, followed by epidemiology at 38.2% and clinical application at 16.7%. Conclusions: In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that teaching medical statistics in Mexican medical schools remains inadequate. Standardizing the curriculum in this area may enhance students’ ability to critically evaluate scientific information and promote the application of evidence-based medicine.

Keywords

• Biostatistics. Medical school. Curriculum. Medical education.