Performance Outcomes Associated with Medical School Community Service

BACKGROUND: Providing medical students with community service opportunities during medical school is believed to foster altruism. Little is known whether voluntary community service is associated with students' academic and clinical skill performance. This study examined the relationship between students' volunteer community service hours during medical school and their medical school academic performance, measures of clinical skills, and residency performance. METHOD: Subjects were 2001 and 2002 graduates of the institution. Performance measures were: United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 score, grade point average, fourth-year clinical skills examination scores, and two types of residency director assessments. Associations between performance measures and community service hour categories were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-tests. RESULTS: Students in the highest service group (>/=18.5 hours) had significantly higher grade point averages, USMLE Step 2 scores, and scores on both residency director assessment when compared to students with no community service hours. CONCLUSIONS: Community service involvement in medical school appears associated with medical school academic and residency performances.