Medical school selection: impact of dysfunctional tendencies on academic performance.

PURPOSE: Dysfunctional personality characteristics have a negative impact on the learning process, academic motivation, academic grades and course attendance. They are associated with higher levels of anxiety and negative mood before examinations, a lack of self-confidence and fear of failure, social skills deficits, and personal and social relationship problems. Dysfunctional personality characteristics inhibit interpersonal working relationships and are detrimental to team effectiveness. Previous research revealed that the majority of students selected into an Australian undergraduate medical programme via the process of academic merit, application and interview reported elevated levels of dysfunctional personality characteristics. Our research now identifies those patterns of dysfunctional behaviour that impacted on academic grades over the first 3 years of the medical programme. METHODS: Dysfunctional personality characteristics in a sample of Australian undergraduate medical students were assessed with the Hogan Development Survey (HDS). The scores of 139 students were then correlated with their end-of-year examination marks for each of the first 3 years of medical training, and their average grade. RESULTS: Pearson's bivariate correlation analysis revealed that there were a number of significant negative relationships between academic grades and the HDS syndromes of Away and Against. There were significant positive relationships between academic grades and the HDS syndrome of Diligent. CONCLUSIONS: To enrol and teach students who fail to graduate, need to repeat, choose not to pursue a career in medicine upon graduation, or become inefficient practitioners is costly. A measure of dysfunctional behaviour has the potential to predict academic performance and improve the cost-effectiveness of medical education.

Medical school selection: Screening for dysfunctional tendencies.

AIM: One of the aims of medical selection is to deselect students who have personal characteristics that would impact negatively on their ability to interact with patients, supervisors and peers and impede their ability to cope with the stress of medical training. The arduous requirements of the formal curriculum, the customs and rituals of the socialisation process and the mistreatment and abuse reportedly experienced by students all contribute to stress, mental illness, suicide, lowered self-confidence in clinical ability, decreased ability to learn and alcohol and substance abuse. There has been little research on the effectiveness of the selection interview in deselecting students with negative personal characteristics. Our research profiles the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies of students already selected into a medical programme through the process of academic merit, application and interview. METHODS: During 2001 and 2002, 159 students enrolled in an Australian undergraduate medical programme completed the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), which is a self-report measure of dysfunctional personality characteristics that inhibit the development of working relationships with others. RESULTS: The HDS identified negative personality characteristics in medical students that were not detected in the selection interview. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of patterns of dysfunctional behaviour in medical training has implications for the selection, teaching and pastoral care of medical students. The HDS has the potential to identify negative personal characteristics that are hard to detect during a selection interview, and may be a valuable adjunct to the interview.