Considering vocational training as selection criterion for medical students: evidence for predictive validity.

Prior work experience in a relevant medical profession is an important admission criterion currently used at many German medical schools in addition to cognitive criteria. In other countries, work experience is often considered in later admission stages (e.g., interviews with pre-selected subgroups of applicants). However, evidence for its predictive validity for study success in addition to cognitive admission criteria is currently lacking. We therefore assessed whether completed vocational training in a relevant medical profession can predict study performance in the first two years of study in addition to cognitive admission criteria. Admission and study performance data of all currently enrolled medical students at two German medical schools (Göttingen and Heidelberg) beginning with the 2013/14 cohort were retrospectively analyzed. Cognitive admission criteria in our sample were GPA grades and a cognitive test ("Test für Medizinische Studiengänge", TMS). We defined the study outcome parameter as the mean percentile rank over all performance data points over the first two years of study for each location, respectively. A multi-level model with varying intercepts by location, GPA, TMS, vocational training, and sex as predictors accounted for 14.5% of the variance in study outcome. A positive predictive association with study outcome was found for vocational training (ß = 0.33, p = .008) beyond GPA (ß = 0.38, p < .001) and TMS (ß = 0.26, p < .001). Our results support the use of prior vocational training as a selection criterion for medical studies potentially adding predictive validity to cognitive criteria.

Assessing distinguishable social skills in medical admission: does construct-driven development solve validity issues of situational judgment tests?

BACKGROUND: Social skills are important for future physicians and are therefore increasingly considered in selection processes. One economic assessment method from which different social skills can be inferred are Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) in which applicants are asked to rate behavioral responses in context-relevant situations. However, traditional SJTs have so far failed to distinctively measure specified constructs. To address this shortcoming in the medical admission context, we applied a construct-driven approach of SJT development in which test development was deductively guided by agency and communion as target constructs. METHOD: The final version of the construct-driven SJT includes 15 items per construct with three behavioral responses. Medical school applicants (N = 1527) completed the construct-driven SJT, a traditional SJT, and an aptitude test under high-stakes condition as part of their application. A subsample (N = 575) participated in a subsequent voluntary online study with self-report measures of personality and past behavior. RESULTS: The proposed two-factor structure and internal consistency of the construct-driven SJT was confirmed. Communal SJT scores were positively associated with self-reported communal personality and communal behavior, yet effects were smaller than expected. Findings for agentic SJT scores were mixed with positive small associations to self-reported agentic personality scores and agentic behavior but unexpected negative relations to communal self-reported measures. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that construct-driven SJTs might overcome validity limitations of traditional SJTs, although their implementation is challenging. Despite first indicators of validity, future research needs to address practical points of application in high-stakes settings, inclusion of other constructs, and especially prediction of actual behavior before the application of construct-driven SJTs for selection purposes in medical admission can be recommended.