Introduction:

There is limited evidence regarding student training on scientific and academic skills that are essential for medical training.

Objective:

To identify the factors associated to basic scientific-academic capacity in medical students from 11 countries in Latin America.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study of secondary data analysis, through a self-administered questionnaire in medical students from 11 Latin American countries. The dependent variable was the presence of basic capacity, defined as the self-report of training and use of at least 1 of 3 databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, UpToDate), training in bibliographic search and critical reading, academic use of at least 1 of 3 information technologies (laptop, smartphone, tablet) and consulting scientific journals. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using Multilevel mixed Effects Generalized Linear Models (MEGLM). A nested model was performed to evaluate the inclusion of covariables in the parsimony model using LRTest.

Results:

Of 11.587 students, only 1.4% had basic scientific-academic capacity. The factors associated in a positive way were being from private universities (PR: 4.85, p < 0.001), affiliation to a student scientific society (PR: 3.20, p < 0.001), research groups (PR: 2.97, p < 0.001) and more than one extracurricular group (PR: 4.29, p = 0.012). The factors associated negatively were being from Bolivia (PR:0.05, p = 0.005), Argentina (PR: 0.06, p = 0.011) and Peru (PR: 0.14, p < 0.001).

Conclusion:

There is inadequate training in basic scientific-academic skills in medical students. Proceeding from a private university and affiliation to scientific societies or related groups increases the prevalence of acquiring such abilities.

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