MEDICAL STUDENT--PERSONAL HEALTH PROMOTION STUDY

Numerous studies have established that many medical students enter medical school with significant and often unrecognized health problems. The rigor and stresses of medical school can produce additional health problems. Medical educators and the public want health care providers to be understanding, caring and provide health promotion leadership. A growing literature indicaes that many United States physicians no longer meet these goals. Further, the same literature shows that here are increases in medical student and physician burnout and impairment. the goal's of this program are 1) to improve the overall health of medical students through their introduction to and ownership of a lifelong personal health promotion program; 2) to thereby enhance these physicians' abilities to promote lifelong health promotions for their patients. Thirty, first year students were randomly identified and asked to participate. All will complete the following entry assessments: 1) cardiovascular, 2) fitness, 3) nutrition and 4) Personlal Wellness Profiler. Each participant reviewed his or her assessment results with the health promotion educator. Each student had the opportunity and resources to fashion an individualized health promotion plan. The health promotion educator contacted each student by telephone two weeks and eight weeks after their assessment review meeting. The health promotion educator and an intedisciplinary team are available to consult with these students on their personal health issues. After six months, the students will be reassessed using entry assessment techniques. The specific aims addressed include: 1) we will determine the incidence of unrecognized health problems in first year medical students; 2) we will determine the likelihood that health promotion strategies will be voluntarily used by the medical students; and 3) using objective assessment data, we will determine whether these strategies can be successful in improving medical student health.