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Medical Student Performance (medical + student_performance)
Selected AbstractsContent specificity: is it the full story?MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2008Statistical modelling of a clinical skills examination Objective, This study sought to determine the relative contributions made by transferable skills and content-specific skills to Year 2 medical student performance in a clinical skills examination. Methods, Correlated trait-correlated method models were constructed to describe the performance of 2 year groups of students in examinations held in the summers of 2004 and 2005 at Peninsula Medical School in the UK. The transferable skills components of the models were then removed to indicate the contribution made to the fit of the models to the data. Results, Although content-specific skills made the greater contribution to the 2 models of student performance (accounting for averages of 54% and 43% of the variance, respectively), transferable skills did make an important but smaller contribution (averages of 13% and 16%, respectively). When the transferable skills components of the models were removed, the fit was not as good. Conclusions, Both content-specific skills and transferable skills contributed to performance in the clinical skills examination. This challenges current thinking and has important implications, not just for those involved in clinical skills examinations, but for all medical educators. [source] Stress, debt and undergraduate medical student performanceMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2006Sarah Ross Introduction, Against the background of current debate over university funding and widening access, we aimed to examine the relationships between student debt, mental health and academic performance. Methods, We carried out an electronic survey of all medical undergraduate students at the University of Aberdeen during May,June 2004. The questionnaire contained items about demographics, debt, income and stress. Students were also asked for consent to access their examination results, which were correlated with their answers. Statistical analyses of the relationships between debt, performance and stress were performed. Results, The median total outstanding debt was £7300 (interquartile range 2000,14 762.50). Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and postgraduate students had higher debts. There was no direct correlation between debt, class ranking or General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score; however, a subgroup of 125 students (37.7%), who said that worrying about money affected their studies, did have higher debt and were ranked lower in their classes. Some of these students were also cases on the GHQ-12. Overall, however, cases on the GHQ had lower levels of debt and lower class ranking, suggesting that financial worries are only 1 cause of mental health difficulties. Discussion, Students' perceptions of their own levels of debt rather than level of debt per se relates to performance. Students who worry about money have higher debts and perform less well than their peers in degree examinations. Some students in this subgroup were also identified by the GHQ and may have mental health problems. The relationships between debt, mental health and performance in undergraduate medical students are complex but need to be appreciated by medical education policy makers. [source] The risks and benefits of being a young female adolescent standardised patientMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2006KD Blake Objective, To follow the progress of young female adolescents, as risk-taking standardised patients (SPs), and to monitor for adverse affects that role-playing may have on the adolescents. Methods, A prospective design was used in which 11 female adolescents, aged 13,15 years, were recruited from 2 schools. The adolescents were trained to portray risk-taking individuals with a medical condition and were interviewed with their SP mother by final-year medical students 1,3 times a month over 6,14 months. A control group was selected from both schools (n = 6). Main outcome measures were pre- and post-interviews using standardised questionnaires [Achenbach's Youth Self-Report (YSR) and Piers Harris Children's Self Concept Scale (SCS),] and focus groups. Results, The adolescent group simulated 111 interviews (mean per adolescent 10.1, SD = 6.2) each lasting 60,70 minutes. Quantitative data, The pre- and post-scores from the YSR and SCS demonstrated no significant differences within the SP study participants or between the control group vs. the study group. Focus group findings, The initial focus group acted as a debriefing exercise and prompted the adolescents to request that they come out of their role when giving feedback. Subsequent focus group discussion was around the medical student performance and their family doctors. Conclusion, Adolescent females showed no adverse effects when used extensively to portray risk-taking SPs. The focus groups provided the adolescents with an opportunity to debrief together. The adolescent SPs reported benefiting from this study but requested unanimously that they come ,out of character' when giving feedback to the medical students. [source] The stability of maternal ratings of medical student interviewsMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 9 2005Maree O'Keefe Introduction, Little information is available on the intrarater reliability of parent ratings of medical student interview skills. The aim of this study was to compare maternal ratings of a videotaped medical student interview, with ratings by the same mother of the same interview seen a month later. Method, Thirty mothers rated 1 of 2 ,medical student' interview videotapes (random allocation). An actor played the role of the student and demonstrated different student skill levels in each interview. Mothers rated the same interview again a month later (mean ± SD 34 ± 13 days). Maternal satisfaction was measured using the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale (MISS, maximum score 203) and the Interpersonal Skills Rating Scale (IPS, maximum score 91) with higher scores indicating higher satisfaction. Results, No significant differences in mean maternal ratings were observed following the first and second viewings of each interview. The average percentage difference in first and second viewing scores was MISS 4%, IPS 8% with correlation coefficients MISS 0.96, IPS 0.87 (P < 0.05). Conclusions, The high levels of stability in maternal evaluations of simulated medical student interviews supports the use of maternal evaluations for longitudinal monitoring of medical student performance. [source] Medical students' personality characteristics and academic performance: a five-factor model perspectiveMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 11 2002Filip Lievens Objectives, This study investigates: (1) which personality traits are typical of medical students as compared to other students, and (2) which personality traits predict medical student performance in pre-clinical years. Design, This paper reports a cross-sectional inventory study of students in nine academic majors and a prospective longitudinal study of one cohort of medical students assessed by inventory during their first preclinical year and by university examination at the end of each pre-clinical year. Subjects and methods In 1997, a combined total of 785 students entered medical studies courses in five Flemish universities. Of these, 631 (80·4%) completed the NEO-PI-R (i.e. a measure of the Five-Factor Model of Personality). This was also completed by 914 Year 1 students of seven other academic majors at Ghent University. Year end scores for medical students were obtained for 607 students in Year 1, for 413 in Year 2, and for 341 in Year 3. Results, Medical studies falls into the group of majors where students score highest on extraversion and agreeableness. Conscientiousness (i.e. self-achievement and self-discipline) significantly predicts final scores in each pre-clinical year. Medical students who score low on conscientiousness and high on gregariousness and excitement-seeking are significantly less likely to sit examinations successfully. Conclusions, The higher scores for extraversion and agreeableness, two dimensions defining the interpersonal dynamic, may be beneficial for doctors' collaboration and communication skills in future professional practice. Because conscientiousness affects examination results and can be reliably assessed at the start of a medical study career, personality assessment may be a useful tool in student counselling and guidance. [source] A Randomized Comparison Trial of Case-based Learning versus Human Patient Simulation in Medical Student EducationACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2 2007Lawrence R. Schwartz MD Objectives Human patient simulation (HPS), utilizing computerized, physiologically responding mannequins, has become the latest innovation in medical education. However, no substantive outcome data exist validating the advantage of HPS. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of simulation training as compared with case-based learning (CBL) among fourth-year medical students as measured by observable behavioral actions. Methods A chest pain curriculum was presented during a one-month mandatory emergency medicine clerkship in 2005. Each month, students were randomized to participate in either the CBL-based or the HPS-based module. All students participated in the same end-of-clerkship chest pain objective structured clinical examination that measured 43 behaviors. Three subscales were computed: history taking, acute coronary syndrome evaluation and management, and cardiac arrest management. Mean total and subscale scores were compared across groups using a multivariate analysis of variance, with significance assessed from Hotelling's T2 statistic. Results Students were randomly assigned to CBL (n= 52) or HPS (n= 50) groups. The groups were well balanced after random assignment, with no differences in mean age (26.7 years; range, 22,44 years), gender (male, 52.0%), or emergency medicine preference for specialty training (28.4%). Self-ratings of learning styles were similar overall: 54.9% were visual learners, 7.8% auditory learners, and 37.3% kinetic learners. Results of the multivariate analysis of variance indicated no significant effect (Hotelling's T2 [3,98] = 0.053; p = 0.164) of education modality (CBL or HPS) on any subscale or total score difference in performance. Conclusions HPS training offers no advantage to CBL as measured by medical student performance on a chest pain objective structured clinical examination. [source] Testing of fine motor skills in dental studentsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2000Olaf Luck Manual skills form only a part of the capabilities required of future dentists, but they are a very important component, which should be tested. With regard to the dental specialities, the present study tested speciality-independent fine motor skills. No objective, practical solution has been found up to now. 88 dental students and, as a control group, 23 medical students were examined in the longitudinal study. In the course of the analysis, 4 fine motor tests were carried out at the beginning of the 2nd and 6th semesters. The tests comprised the tremometer test, the tremometer test with a mirror, the 2-hand sinusoid test and archery using the Game Gear by SEGA. The test devices facilitate primarily the testing of components of accuracy of movements, indirect working methods, and eye-hand coordination. In the comparison of performances on test day A, the medical students' performance was noticeably better. As testing progressed, results showed stagnation in the performance of the medical students and a significant improvement in the performance of the dental students. That means that the test system can be used for a test over the course of study, but not as an initial test. [source] | ||||||||||