Dermatology Education for Medical Students: Assessing Participation Rates in Clinical Dermatology Electives

Introduction: Skin conditions affect 1.9 billion people worldwide and are a common reason for patients to seek health care1. With the high prevalence of skin disease, it is vital that medical students should receive clinic-based education in recognizing and treating skin disorders. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSoM) currently offers a 4-week clinical dermatology elective to third or fourth year medical students. However, in an increasingly crowded clinical curricula, the dermatology elective is not taken by many students. Methods: We assessed the percentage of UPSoM students who completed the dermatology elective and analyzed the residency selection of these students between academic years 2012 to 2022. We also explored dermatology elective offerings of medical schools across the United Sates that have a dermatology residency program and investigated the number of schools offering a shortened elective through the American Medical Association’s FREIDA database. Results: During academic years (AY) 2012 to 2022, 1579 students were enrolled at UPSOM. In this time period, 205(13.0%) students participated in the elective course. Of these 205 students, 31(15.1%) pursued dermatology residency, 105(51.2%) pursued primary care and 22(10.7%) students pursued surgical subspecialties. Of the 142 dermatology residency programs, only nineteen programs (17.0%) offer a shortened elective. Discussion: Many medical students graduate medical school with little to no dermatology training, despite a high likelihood of encountering skin disease in their future careers. Offering a shortened clinical dermatology elective may allow for more students to participate in hands-on dermatology training.