Curricular variations in combined baccalaureate-M.D. programs.

The authors review curricular characteristics of combined baccalaureate-M.D. programs at 28 U.S. medical schools from 1961, when the first programs started, until 1991-92. Initially, in the 1960s, these programs were created (1) to offer talented high school graduates an accelerated track leading to the baccalaureate and M.D. degrees, (2) to reduce educational expenses, (3) to improve education in the humanities, and (4) to attract outstanding students into careers in medicine. In the 1970s these objectives were modified to address national health care needs, particularly the need to graduate more physicians more quickly, especially primary care physicians for underserved areas. In the 1980s the objectives were broadened to achieve more diverse goals, including emphases on the humanities, community medicine, and biotechnology, in addition to the continued stress on the education of primary care physicians.

Predictors of black medical student success.

This study identifies those variables, cognitive and noncognitive, that relate significantly to the successful completion of the combined BA/MD degree program. The study sample included 69 black students who entered at year one, directly from high school, between 1972 and 1981. The Student's t-test identified statistically significant differences in the means of selection variables of successful and nonsuccessful black students. Single order correlations between predictor variables and the criterion of graduation were determined. This was followed by a stepwise regression procedure. The same predictor variables were correlated with grade point average (GPA) at the end of year one, and a further analysis added year one GPA to the predictors of graduation in a stepwise regression procedure. The same statistical analyses were carried out on a stratified sample of 69 nonminority students. Predictors of graduation for black students were parents' level of education, admission test score, self-evaluation, and council index (average vote of all committee members on an applicant). Year one GPA was a strong predictor of success for both cohorts of students. This study supports the inclusion of noncognitive information when considering black applicants for medical school. In particular, parents' levels of education and applicants' self-appraisals, along with admission test scores, showed a significant relationship to graduation 6 years later with the MD degree.

Women medical students' ratings of the required surgery clerkship: implications for career choice.

This study examined the ratings of their required surgery clerkship by 150 women and 202 men students. The authors hypothesize that a positive, highly rated curricular experience will have a statistically significant relationship to performance in surgery and to selection of that specialty for further training. Women students rated 12 of the 15 aspects of the clerkship and the overall evaluation lower than their male peers did. Men students scored significantly above the women on objective examinations, but women were rated significantly higher than the men on the clerkship, and there was no significant difference in their performance as first-year residents. The women who entered surgery residencies (half as many women as men) rated the clerkship higher than the women who entered other specialties. Recognizing that experiences on a clerkship are but one influence on a student's eventual specialty choice, the authors nonetheless conclude that more women would select careers in surgery if their initial contact with the specialty provided more relevant work, more patient responsibilities, and more skill development, all conveyed with a more positive staff attitude.

An assessment of the student partnership program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.

The partnership program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine pairs less experienced students with more experienced students to work together during the last four years of a six-year curriculum. The present study has explored how the partnership program is supposed to work, whether in reality it does work, what function it actually serves, and under what circumstances it operates best. In 1986 and 1987, the authors analyzed information from formal school documents, created and used questionnaires for the students and faculty, conducted semistructured interviews with selected students, and used the results of an annual survey, begun in 1978, of supervisors of first-year students who graduated from UMKC. The students and docents were found to favor the partnership system and reported that most partnerships worked well. The system's chief outcome is seen to be teaching teamwork: learning from and working together with student partners. The characteristics of the students, docents, and setting that contributed to successful partnerships are identified. The authors conclude that the partnership system at UMKC does achieve its objectives, which are described.

Preparing high school students for a career in the health sciences.

The Summer Scholars Programs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine are designed to identify talented minority or economically disadvantaged high school students and to encourage these students toward careers in the health sciences. In the summer of 1984, 31 students participated in a one-month educational program during which they observed and participated in selected patient care procedures. They developed interpersonal and interviewing skills needed for successful application to health education programs. Students were provided information about numerous health careers to help them clarify their perceptions of health roles.To assess the programs' impact, the 18 scholar participants, who were high school seniors, responded to a questionnaire that sought information about their academic program during the senior year and their plans for higher education. Responses indicated that all had pursued rigorous academic programs, had achieved at a superior level in these courses, and were enrolling in college in the fall of 1985. Fourteen of the 18 students were planning careers in medicine. Responses indicated that the students felt that the programs had been effective in helping them learn about, prepare for, and make appropriate choices regarding careers in the health sciences.

Docents' and students' perceptions of the ideal and actual role of the docent.

In the study reported here, the authors investigated the perceptions of medical students and faculty mentors, called docents, regarding the docents' role. A total of 197 students and 22 docents responded to a questionnaire asking them to rate 32 docent activities on a 4-point scale where 1 = seldom done and 4 = very often done. They were requested to rate these activities on the basis of how often they would be carried out by a docent ideally and on the basis of how often in their experience they were actually carried out. Mean ratings of ideal and actual practice were calculated for each activity as perceived by the docents and by the students. Rank-order correlations were computed to compare the docents' and students' perceptions. Although both the docents and the students consistently felt that more time should be devoted to each activity than actually was, the rank-order correlation between the docents' rating of the ideal and actual practice was .87, and between the students' ratings of ideal and actual it was .93. Both the docents and the students perceived the docents as actually carrying out their essential role-modeling, teaching, and patient-care functions.

Self-evaluation in undergraduate medical education: a longitudinal perspective.

Although self-evaluation is crucial in the practice of medicine, few educators have formally introduced self-assessment into the undergraduate medical curriculum. However, students in the baccalaureate-M.D. degree program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, must complete a self-evaluation at the close of every medical school course and rotation during the last four years of a six-year curriculum. In this paper, the authors examine the self-ratings of 211 of these students as they progressed through the program in order to discover trends in and correlates of the self-assessments. Although the students' self-evaluations and faculty members' ratings of these students' performances rose year by year, the relationship between the students' and the faculty's ratings decreased through time. Yet, results suggest that self-evaluation has educational merit as a measure of noncognitive abilities associated with clinical performance and as a stimulus to further learning and professional development.

Predictors of performance of minority students in the first two years of a BA/MD program.

This study examines cognitive and noncognitive selection variables as predictors of multiple criteria of performance for minority and nonminority students entering the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine between 1972 and 1977. Data analysis aims at identifying characteristics associated with success in the crucial first two years of the combined BA/MD program. Pearson product moment correlations and multiple regression equations have been determined for all selection variables and three criteria measures. A number of nontraditional variables are significantly predictive of minority student performance. The cognitive variables of aptitude test and high school science/mathematics preparation are significant predictors of all three performance measures in both racial groups. The data support the position that separate equations are not necessary to predict performance of minority and nonminority students, but that admission committees, when selecting minority students, should recognize both personal attributes and academic preparation as indicators of potential success or failure.