Selection Of Medical Students Research Articles

Selection of medical students: an affirmative action programme

SUMMARY An affirmative-action programme was introduced in Auckland in 1972 to increase the proportion and absolute number of entrants to medical school from the indigenous or Maori population and those of Pacific Island ancestry. One hundred and forty-seven students have entered the course through this programme, the percentage of females being higher than that of the non-affirmative category. Seventy-five have graduated – a graduation rate of 78%. Twenty-seven (18%) have been lost from the course mainly through academic failure, This loss is much higher than the 8% found for the remaining medical student population. The subsequent careers of those lost from the course has been satisfactory, some graduating from other faculties and some from polytechnics. Although such a programme remains controversial it has enabled a large number of persons to enter medical school who would not have been able to do so through the standard admitting process.

Medical Student Selection on the Standpoint from Applicants and Social Needs

Medical Student Selection on the Standpoint from Applicants and Social Needs

Compassionate-empathic physicians: Personality traits and social-organizational factors that enhance or inhibit this behavior pattern

Compassionate-empathic physicians (CEPs) are desired by patients, but rarely found in medical settings. The purpose of this study was to promote our understanding of this gap by determining personal characteristics that distinguish CEPs from other physicians, and organizational factors that might enhance or inhibit physicians' compassionate-empathic behavior (CEB). In the first stage of the study, three groups of physicians who differed in their compassionate-empathic pattern of behavior toward patients were identified by a sociometric questionnaire distributed to 324 physicians in a general hospital. In the second stage, almost all of these physicians (N = 308) were asked to fill out a self administered structured questionnaire, and 214 (69.5%) responded. Comparisons among the three groups show that the physicians identified as CEPs, more than other physicians, are younger, have fewer years in medical practice, and score higher on pro-social, non-stereotypic attitudes toward patients and on empathy measures. Their self-esteem is, however, similar to that of the non-CEPs. The CEPs express similar levels of satisfaction with work on most dimensions, but they report more emotional exhaustion (burnout) than other physicians. A consensus among all physicians was found with regard to two rank orders: (a) the important qualities for being “a good physician”; and (b) the important qualities for being promoted in the hospital. However, while empathic behavior was considered the most important quality for being “a good physician”, it was ranked as the least important for being promoted in the hospital.The conclusions can serve as a scientific base for improving methods of selection of medical students, and for re-evaluating the existent criteria for promoting medical staff in general hospitals.

Religious Discrimination in the Selection of Medical Students: A Case Study

In 1978 the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, responding to congressional concerns,(1) conducted a study to determine whether schools of medicine, nursing, or osteopathy deny admission or otherwise discriminate against any applicant because of the applicant's reluctance, or willingness, to counsel, suggest, recommend, assist, or in any way participate in the performance of abortions or sterilizations contrary to his or her religious beliefs or moral convictions.(2) Surveys were sent to all schools of medicine, nursing, and osteopathy in the United States, asking whether they discriminated against or denied admission to any of the named groups.(3) In addition, any applicant who had suffered such discrimination was asked to contact the surveyors, and any organization aware of incidents of discrimination was asked to describe details of such incidents.(4) The questionnaire to the professional schools was organized around four areas of inquiry: (1) Does the medical school have a policy or understanding related to abortion or sterilization? (2) Are applicants ever queried about their views on abortion or sterilization? The school was asked to describe such inquiries. (3) What impact do the views expressed by applicants regarding abortion/sterilization have on an applicant's admission? (4) Are there any complaints by applicants concerning admission because of their views on such topics?(5) One medical school that responded to this survey answered questions 1, 3, and 4 in the negative.6 Regarding the second question, it was stated that one faculty member routinely queried applicants about a hypothetical situation in which a fourteen-year-old unmarried Catholic girl requested an abortion. The applicant was asked to discuss the issues presented by this request from the viewpoint of the primary physician. The medical school stated that the purpose of this inquiry was not to determine a point of view, but to evaluate a capacity to identify relevant issues.(7) Whether the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare made any response to this positive answer or what report they made of it to Congress is not known. This article examines the actual practice of questioning of applicants on abortion and a penumbra of controversial topics in medical school admissions in light of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's letter.(8) Some time after the survey, an opportunity was presented to study the actual admissions process at the school giving the answer described above and to compare it with the information presented to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This particular admissions procedure revolved around a number of factors. College grades (GPA) and the results of the standardized Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) were considered, particularly in the selection of students to be interviewed by the faculty of the school. Other factors considered included the recommendations submitted by the student's college and the information contained on the application form: questions about the student's demographic data (race, age, birthplace), parents (birthplace, occupation), the high school of graduation, and organizations to which the applicant belonged or other nonacademic activities (church membership was often listed, and some listed anti-abortion activities). in addition, each candidate wrote an essay as part of the application, presenting an account of experiences and motivations leading to the desire to become a physician. On occasion, some applicants mentioned a religious motivation as important in the decision to enter medical school. For medical school acceptance, it was essential that an applicant be selected for an interview. This decision was based largely on an applicant's MCAT and GPA, but some applicants were invited for other reasons. But however an applicant was selected for an interview, it remained a requirement for admission.(9) The admissions committee was a decisive entity in the selection of applicants for the entering class, although not all applicants accepted necessarily had the approval of the admissions committee. …

Time For a Review of Admission to Medical School?

Appropriate selection of medical students is a fundamental prerequisite if medical schools are to produce competent and caring doctors. The selection criteria for entry to the medical degree course at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, are unique in Australia. The purpose of this study was to identify admission criteria that may predict performance in the first postgraduate (intern) year. Performance ratings were obtained from the clinical supervisors of two graduating classes of Newcastle University medical students during their five terms in internship (first postgraduate year). At least one rating was obtained for 93% of interns. A subset analysis of interns with multiple ratings (57%) showed that combining previous study in both humanities and science before medical school entry was predictive of higher intern performance ratings. These interns were rated more favourably than those who had studied science alone. Moreover, students who had earlier studied both humanities and science were twice as likely to complete their medical degree as those who had studied science alone. Age, gender, admission interview results, written psychometric test scores, academic marks, and whether previous tertiary study had been undertaken prior to medical school entry were not predictive of intern performance ratings. Subject spread, including a background in humanities, is important for effective medical practice, at least in the immediate postgraduate period. Perhaps it is time to evaluate the admission criteria by which medical students are selected.

A structured panel interview and group exercise in the selection of medical students.

The selection of entrants for medical school, as now widely agreed, should include measurements of non-academic as well as academic attributes. The authors have developed a process to assess the personal attributes of applicants. This included a structured panel interview carried out twice on each applicant by independent interviewers and a group exercise in which several applicants were observed whilst discussing a problem. Training for interviewers took the form of a half-day interactive workshop. One hundred and forty-one school-leaving applicants completed the new assessment. No relationship was found between academic achievement as reflected by marks in a national examination and scores in the panel interview, the group exercise, or the school principal's report. However, significant intercorrelations were found between the panel interview, group exercise and school report. The results of this experience have encouraged the Auckland School to continue to explore methods to measure these attributes in a carefully controlled study.

Entry to medical school: an audit of traditional selection requirements.

The major focus in the selection of entrants for medical school has traditionally been on academic achievement in school-leaving examinations in which certain science subjects are a requirement. A longitudinal study of 413 successful applicants was undertaken to determine the relationship of these admission criteria to subsequent performance. The findings support a correlation between overall marks in the school-leaving examination and the annual Grade Point Averages. Those students in the top quartile for marks showed a significant advantage in terms of achievement but only in the preclinical years. Despite the significant correlations no predictions could be made on the basis of overall marks. No correlation was found with levels of clinical competence during the ward clerkships or with the interdisciplinary objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in the final examination. Marks in individual school-leaving examination subjects correlated with performance during different parts of the course but only those entrants in the top quartile for marks in physics and biology showed an advantage through to the clinical years. English marks were the least correlated and failed to confer an advantage in any year of the course. None of the correlations between school-leaving marks and grades in medical school exceeded 0.4. The predictive value of school-leaving examination marks therefore accounted for only 16% of the variance in subsequent examinations. Selection of medical students on the basis of academic criteria alone is inadequate and should be accompanied by assessment of personal qualities. This School no longer uses school-leaving marks as the primary selection instrument.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A comparison of models of medical school student selection

It has been argued that medical school admission should be based on intellectual capacity and personal suitability (Model 1). In reality, however, selection may be solely dependent on the interview, which may evaluate intellectual capacity redundantly, instead of evaluating personal suitability (Model 2). Structural equation modeling was used to compare Models 1 and 2 using Medical College Admissions Tests, grade point averages, an Interview score, and three personality scores (Empathy, Orderliness, and Extraversion) collected for 413 UCLA medical school applicants of the 1989 class. The data supported the second model. The interview was related to neither Empathy as a personal suitability nor excessive Orderliness as a psychological maladjustment. Recommendations are made to improve the current interview process.

The Development of a Semi-Structured Interviewing System to be used as an Adjunct to Secondary School Performance for the Selection of Medical Students

The Faculty of Medicine at Monash University made a decision to take personal qualities, as appraised by semi-structured interviews, into account alongside academic merit for selection of students from 1993 onwards. To develop competence in these techniques, the Faculty interviewed entrants, rather than applicants, in 1991 and 1992. Interviewing panels consist of three members—a member of the Faculty of Medicine, a member of the Association of Monash Medical Graduates Inc., and an outside person who is not involved in medicine. These qualities fall into four ‘fields’—quality of motivation, appropriateness of cognitive style, appropriateness of interpersonal style, and verbal communication skill. This paper describes the interview procedure, presents the results of questionnaires taken by the interviewers and the interviewees, and analyses the interview scores in relation to some demographic variables.

Specialty Selections of Jefferson Medical College Students

This study employed a consumer research technique-conjoint analysis-to assess the relative importance of several factors in the selection of a specialty byfourth-year medical students. The study was undertaken in light of a decline in the number of medical students entering primary care residencies. One hundred four students responded to a questionnaire involving six factors: national need for physicians, personal interest, yearly income, hours worked per week, availability of loan repayment, and level of debt. Personal interest accountedfor 54% of total variation in preferences. Expected income was second in importance overall, but depended on its combination with otherfactors. Debt, hours worked, availability of loan repayment, and physician supply together accounted for 29% of total variation. Specialty selection by medical students is clearly a complex process, and conjoint analysis can be an important addition to the multiplicity of methods applied to its investigation.

Application of Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments to medical student specialty selection

Application of Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments to medical student specialty selection

Selection of medical students: the Beer-Sheva perspective.

In many Western medical schools with a low attrition rate the selection of medical students represents the key hurdle for admission to the practice of medicine. The process therefore deserves careful attention. Described herein are impressions and conclusions from almost two decades' experience in selecting medical students at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel. Emphasis is placed on personal qualities as determined by an interview process of those students who pass a relatively lenient academic threshold. Interviewing is carried out by teams of two, one of whom is a doctor, and each candidate who is accepted is interviewed by four members of the admission committee. Emphasis is placed on clear goals for the interview process, carefully selected and trained interviewers and continual review of the process. In spite of the inherent limitations of a subjective interview process we feel that it offers considerable advantage over other approaches in student selection.

Assessing the validity of the updated Medical College Admission Test

This report represents early information about the validity of the updated Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) battery introduced in 1991. Data are given on both the use of the new examination in the selection of medical students and its estimated predictive value for freshman students' performance. Admission officials from 114 institutions responded to a survey on medical school admission practices and on the use of MCAT data; also elicited were assessments of the examination in relation to its design and implementation objectives. Regression-based evaluations of the predictive validity of the MCAT, undergraduate grades, and of undergraduate selectivity data for first-year grades at 12 institutions are described. Survey responses suggest that MCAT data are viewed in relation to the varied information needs of admission decision making and are supplemented by other academic and nonacademic information in selection. The new battery generally is judged favorably by admission officials. Predictive validity results reflect the usefulness of MCAT scores, undergraduate grades, and selectivity data for identifying individuals apt to succeed in medical school. The authors conclude that preliminary information about the results of the new examination is encouraging. The members of the MCAT Validity Studies Advisory Group, who assisted the authors in framing and conducting the research presented in this report, continue their research and deliberations about the use, utility, and impact of the updated MCAT.

Report of the 12th Conference on Medical Student Selection

Report of the 12th Conference on Medical Student Selection

Strategies of Collaborative Writing and Intellectual Enrichment

Journalists often collaborate when they write stories for newspapers, magazines, and journals. Public relations agents and advertising copywriters frequently collaborate in their projects. Increasingly members of industry collaborate in producing written documents. It is important that journalism college professors teach the strategies of collaborative planning and writing. should give collaborative writing assignments to students while they are still in college so they will be prepared to write collaboratively after they graduate.Current literature about collaborative writing in college is found mainly in journals of business communication and English. More published research is needed about the techniques of teaching collaborative writing in journalism college courses. Some researchers approach the subject from the viewpoint that collaborative writing is intertwined with collaborative learning.HistoryCollaborative learning began to interest American college teachers widely only in the 1980s. Yet the term was coined and the basic idea first developed in the 1950s and 1960s by British secondary school teachers and by a biologist studying British post-graduate education--medical education in particular (Bruffee, 1984).The collaborative forms that interested British educators were described by M. L. J. Abercrombie (1960). The result of her ten years of research on the selection and training of medical students at University College, University of London, suggested that diagnosis, the art of medical judgment and the key element in successful medical practice, is better learned in small groups of students arriving at diagnoses collaboratively than it is learned by students working individually.Abercrombie asked a group of medical students to examine a patient together, discuss the case as a group, and arrive at a diagnosis they could all agree upon. What she found was that students learning diagnosis this way acquired good medical judgment faster than individuals working alone (p. 19).Trimbur (1985) said that the collaborative learning movement emerged in the 1960s when students challenged the university's in loco parentis doctrine, demanded a greater role in determining the scope and intent of their education, and demonstrated suspicion of authority in general. He cites the development of free universities, teach-ins, anti-war study groups, and consciousness-raising groups, all reflecting a felt need for community, self-organization, mutual aid, and nonauthoritarian styles of leadership and decision making.Bruffee said that for American college teachers the roots of collaborative learning do not lie in radical politics or research. He said, They lie in the nearly desperate response of harried colleges during the early 1970s to a pressing educational need...Faculty and administrators...became aware that, increasingly, students entering college had difficulty doing as well in academic studies as their native ability suggested. Bruffee said that the students had difficulty adapting to the traditional conventions of the college classroom, but responded well to classroom group work (p. 637).Philosophically, the collaborative classroom can be described as a critique of the teacher-centered classroom. In the latter, authority is vested in a teacher who disseminates knowledge to students. In the former, authority is vested in the subject and in the social interaction of the learners (Stewart, 1988, p. 60). However, I am not suggesting that an entire class be taught collaboratively, but rather that collaborative-writing techniques be included in traditional courses such as media writing, reporting, public relations, broadcast writing, public affairs writing, editing, and advertising.Why write collaboratively?Ede and Lunsford (1985) define collaborative writing as the production of a single text by co-authors or group authors. conducted a research project on collaborative writing under the sponsorship of the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education's Shaughnessy Scholars Program. …

Selection of Auckland medical students over 25 years: a time for change?

The selection procedures used in Auckland have been reviewed, and the characteristics of those admitted over 25 years analysed. Students are admitted either as school-leavers, mature entrants, or through an affirmative action scheme. A further small number are admitted as part of overseas development assistance. School-leavers are invited for interview on the basis of their academic achievement. Mature students and the affirmative group must have a minimum acceptable academic standard, with the interview playing a dominant role. Two thousand four hundred and forty-eight students have been admitted. The mean age was 18.6 years, and 39.7% were women. Over one half of the students had a parent who had attended university and 13% had a medical parent. One in ten students failed to complete the course, academic failure and withdrawal being of equal importance. The high loss seen in the affirmative group was due to academic failure and has led to the introduction of extra tuition and support for these students. The emphasis on academic achievement by school-leavers has excluded many applicants with outstanding personal qualities. The academic staff has therefore decided to modify the selection procedure, the final rank order of these applicants being based on their personal attributes and life experiences.

Selection of medical students and the maldistribution of the medical workforce in Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT: The relative shortage of both general practitioners and specialists providing medical services to rural areas disadvantages people living in the country. This maldistribution of the medical workforce is due in part to the medical education system. The selection and socialisation of medical students, the adequacy of training for rural practice and the continuing support of rural doctors must all be addressed. While progress is being made in vocational training and continuing support of rural practice, aspects of undergraduate education continue to contribute to the shortage of rural practitioners.The school and home addresses of 1991 school leavers in the 1992 intake into first year medicine at the University of Queensland were analysed and compared with those previously reported. Results indicated that students from rural backgrounds remain underrepresented despite previous recommendations to redress the disproportionately low number of rural students entering medical school. Changes to the selection of medical students aimed at increasing the number of rural students entering the course are discussed. This issue needs to be addressed in conjunction with many other factors contributing to the maldistribution of general practitioners if the shortage of rural medical practitioners is to be ultimately corrected.

Selection of Medical Students from the Stand Point of Humanity

Selection of Medical Students from the Stand Point of Humanity

Report of the 11th Conference on Medical Student Selection

Report of the 11th Conference on Medical Student Selection

Report of the 9th Conference on Medical Student Selection

Report of the 9th Conference on Medical Student Selection