Médicos investigadores: Percepción de estudiantes de medicina y factores asociados a la posibilidad de serlo

Introduction: Medical students are interested in and consider investigation to be very important since the undergraduate period. Its practice demands specific training that includes various aspects for its development. Objective: To determine the perception by Peruvian medical students and the factors associated with the possibility of them working as medical scholars. Methods: Cross-sectional analytical study of secondary data collected through a virtual survey. The perception of the scholar physicians was obtained through a previously validated test. Results: Out of the 795 students, 57% were female and 22 years were of average age. Some facts increase the frequency of intention to be a medical scholar after ten years of graduation: being males (p: 0.012), their university being in the mountains (p: 0.003), in the jungle (p<0.001), or being a public one (P: 0.015), having carried out outreach investigation (p <0.001), having attended a scientific conference as authors (p: 0.019), stating that they would present a thesis for graduation --even though their university has other options-- (p<0.001), and the possibility to become an epidemiologist (p:0.027) or a professor (p<0.001) after ten years of graduation. Nevertheless, having made a presentation which was not a paper (p: 0,039) or manifested that they want to be a medical practitioner after ten years of graduation (p <0.001) decreased the frequency of wanting to be a medical scholar. Conclusions: Some characteristics exist in the students that could become scholars, which may serve for institutions to promote them among the students themselves.