Attitudes of Chinese medical students toward the global minimum essential requirements established by the Institute for International Medical Education.

Background: The Institute for International Medical Education has published "Global Minimum Essential Requirements (GMERs) in Medical Education."
Purpose: This study examined attitudes of a sample of Chinese medical students toward the GMERs.
Methods: Matriculating and graduating West China School of Medicine Sichuan University medical students were administered parallel surveys during the 2001 to 2002 academic years.
Results: Both cohorts produced similar response profiles. The majority in both groups rated the 7 GMER domains as either important or very important for their medical education. Matriculating students rated professional values, attitudes, behavior, and ethics as most important, whereas graduating students valued clinical skills highest. Population health and health systems received the lowest importance ratings from both groups. Please note that this study was conducted before the SARS outbreak. As a result of the SARS experience, attitudes toward population health and health systems might have changed.
Conclusion: Although medical students ascribe importance to the GMERs, efforts are needed to increase the perceived importance of the population health and health systems domain.