Abstract
BackgroundOver two-thirds of UK medical schools are augmenting their selection procedures for medical students by using the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), which employs tests of cognitive and non-cognitive personal qualities, but clear evidence of the tests’ predictive validity is lacking. This study explores whether academic performance and professional behaviours that are important in a health professional context can be predicted by these measures, when taken before or very early in the medical course.MethodsThis prospective cohort study follows the progress of the entire student cohort who entered Hull York Medical School in September 2007, having taken the UKCAT cognitive tests in 2006 and the non-cognitive tests a year later. This paper reports on the students’ first and second academic years of study. The main outcome measures were regular, repeated tutor assessment of individual students’ interpersonal skills and professional behaviour, and annual examination performance in the three domains of recall and application of knowledge, evaluation of data, and communication and practical clinical skills. The relationships between non-cognitive test scores, cognitive test scores, tutor assessments and examination results were explored using the Pearson product–moment correlations for each group of data; the data for students obtaining the top and bottom 20% of the summative examination results were compared using Analysis of Variance.ResultsPersonal qualities measured by non-cognitive tests showed a number of statistically significant relationships with ratings of behaviour made by tutors, with performance in each year’s objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), and with themed written summative examination marks in each year. Cognitive ability scores were also significantly related to each year’s examination results, but seldom to professional behaviours. The top 20% of examination achievers could be differentiated from the bottom 20% on both non-cognitive and cognitive measures.ConclusionsThis study shows numerous significant relationships between both cognitive and non-cognitive test scores, academic examination scores and indicators of professional behaviours in medical students. This suggests that measurement of non-cognitive personal qualities in applicants to medical school could make a useful contribution to selection and admission decisions. Further research is required in larger representative groups, and with more refined predictor measures and behavioural assessment methods, to establish beyond doubt the incremental validity of such measures over conventional cognitive assessments.
Highlights
Over two-thirds of UK medical schools are augmenting their selection procedures for medical students by using the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), which employs tests of cognitive and non-cognitive personal qualities, but clear evidence of the tests’ predictive validity is lacking
The significant results (p < .05, 2tailed test) among the Pearson product–moment correlations for each group of data are shown in the following tables, along with significant F values obtained by comparing students obtaining the top and bottom 20% of the summative examination results using Analysis of Variance
In the field of organisational psychology it is well recognised that even quite weak correlations are useful predictors of workplace outcomes, especially if the ratio of applicants to selectees is large [12], as with applications to medical school. Such measures may usefully predict medical student performance and later professional conduct. This position is supported by a recent meta-analysis of the predictive value of ability and personality test scores, which concluded that such scores are more successful in predicting educational, work and life outcomes than is often admitted by critics; in particular “In medical education, personality characteristics gain importance for later academic performance when applied practice increasingly plays a part” [13]
Summary
Over two-thirds of UK medical schools are augmenting their selection procedures for medical students by using the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), which employs tests of cognitive and non-cognitive personal qualities, but clear evidence of the tests’ predictive validity is lacking. In the UK 26 of the 32 medical schools have been exploring the use of the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) [4] The use of such tests is controversial and clear evidence of their predictive validity continues to be lacking [5-7] because studies combining the administration of these tests with observational measures of student behaviour (or professional behaviour after graduation) have not been carried out. Our aim was to establish whether any of a range of tests of cognitive abilities and non-cognitive personal qualities [8-11] that have been developed for medical student selection can predict professionally appropriate behaviours in medical students, in addition to their normal examination results
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