Factors related to academic failure in preclinical medical education: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction:Identifying the learners’ problems early enough and providing advice from the beginning is definitely an important investment in the training and progress of future practitioners. The current review aimed at examining factors related to academic failure of the preclinical medical students. Methods:The study was carried out as a systematic search of publications in the following databases published from January 1987 to January 2018: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Educational Resources, Information Center and Scopus. No language limitation was set for searching the resources. As a comprehensive search, the following keywords were used for the abstract, title and keyword sections: academic performance, academic failure, academic achievement, drop out, academic engagement, learning disorder, medical student, struggle student and problem learner. A valid tool (STROBE) was used to determine the quality of the articles. Results: Most articles discussed personal causes, 7 discussed learning style, 7 discussed personality traits, 6 discussed motivational strategies and self‐efficacy, 4 discussed quality of sleep, 4 discussed the effect of stress, 9 discussed demographic factors, 3 discussed physical activity, 1 discussed coping strategies, 2 discussed class attendance and 4 discussed study strategy. Twenty-five articles described instructional design cause, 3 described teaching strategies, 2 described course assessments, 1 described the course structure, 3 described critical thinking, 3 described blended learning, 13 described predictive courses, 14 described admission tests, 1 described the learning environment, 2 described curriculum planning and 3 described the pre-matriculation program. Conclusion:Medical teachers often do not know which students are problem learners or what causes academic failure. The goal of this systematic review was to determine the origin of problems in learning to identify problem learners. The results indicates that managers, policymakers, instructors and counselors can monitor student academic achievement by careful planning of instructional design, attention to an educational environment, use of active teaching methods, continuous assessment of students and consideration of personal factors.