Abstract
BackgroundEfficient selection of medical students in GP training plays an important role in improving healthcare quality. The aim of this study was to collect quantitative and qualitative validity evidence of a multicomponent proficiency-test for identifying underperforming students in cognitive and non-cognitive competencies, prior to entering postgraduate GP Training. From 2016 to 2018, 894 medical GP students in four Flemish universities in Belgium registered to take a multicomponent proficiency-test before admission to postgraduate GP Training. Data on students were obtained from the proficiency-test as a test-score and from traineeship mentors’ narrative reports.ResultsIn total, 849 students took the multicomponent proficiency-test during 2016–2018. Test scores were normally distributed. Five different descriptive labels were extracted from mentors’ narrative reports based on thematic analysis, considering both cognitive and non-cognitive competences. Chi-square tests and odds ratio showed a significant association between students scoring low on the proficiency–test and having gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive competencies during GP traineeship.ConclusionA multicomponent proficiency-test could detect underperforming students prior to postgraduate GP Training. Students that ranked in the lowest score quartile had a higher likelihood of being labelled as underperforming than students in the highest score quartile. Therefore, a low score in the multicomponent proficiency-test could indicate the need for closer guidance and early remediating actions focusing on both cognitive and non-cognitive competencies.
Highlights
Efficient selection of medical students in General Practitioner (GP) training plays an important role in improving healthcare quality
The study results show that a multicomponent proficiencytest could detect students who were low-performers in cognitive and non-cognitive competencies during their first year of GP Training
The challenge of what needs to be measured is a persistent problem in medical selection research
Summary
Efficient selection of medical students in GP training plays an important role in improving healthcare quality. From 2016 to 2018, 894 medical GP students in four Flemish universities in Belgium registered to take a multicomponent proficiency-test before admission to postgraduate GP Training. High quality of medical selection yields highest impact on people’s health and improvement of GP postgraduate education and training seem to differ across Europe [1]. Medical students have to follow a GP specialist training, but GP curricula greatly differ across Europe. GP specialist training largely takes place in a hospital setting, which is fundamentally different from a typical GP’s workplace. These particularities of General Practice plea for rigorous selection methods [2]
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