| Literature DB >> 22098629 |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: An earlier study at Nottingham suggested that 10-15% of the medical student intake was likely to fail completely or have substantial problems on the course. This is a problem for the students, the Faculty, and society as a whole. If struggling students could be identified early in the course and additional pastoral resources offered, some of this wastage might be avoided. An exploratory case study was conducted to determine whether there were common indicators in the early years, over and above academic failure, that might aid the identification of students potentially at risk.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2011 PMID: 22098629 PMCID: PMC3229499 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-11-95
Source DB: PubMed Journal: BMC Med Educ ISSN: 1472-6920 Impact factor: 2.463
Broad categories of students identified within the database
| Completed the course | n = 87 |
|---|---|
| Struggler - problems in preclinical & clinical parts of course | 25 |
| Preclinical problems predominated | 18 |
| Clinical problems predominated | 8 |
| Problems largely health-related | 17 |
| Borderline performance | 19 |
| (No substantial problems, discarded from database | 32) |
| Still on course, discarded from database | 2 |
| Left course voluntarily | 59 |
| Course terminated | 14 |
Socio-demographic characteristics of student group identified for the study
| Course completers | Non-completers | Combined | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % * | n | % * | n | % * | ||
| Domicile | Home | 74 | 85 | 64 | 85 | 138 | 85 |
| EU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Overseas | 13 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 24 | 15 | |
| Sex | Male | 39 | 45 | 30 | 40 | 69 | 43 |
| Female | 48 | 55 | 45 | 60 | 93 | 57 | |
| Age at course entry | Under 21 | 82 | 94 | 71 | 95 | 153 | 94 |
| 21 or over | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 6 | |
| Any disability declared | Yes | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| No | 83 | 95 | 74 | 99 | 157 | 97 | |
| School leaver | Yes | 83 | 95 | 72 | 96 | 155 | 96 |
| No | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | |
| Interview offer type | Unconditional | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 7 |
| Conditional (on A levels) | 71 | 82 | 59 | 79 | 130 | 80 | |
| Reserve | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |
| Late offer (May-August) | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 9 | |
| Not known | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | |
* percentage figures may not total 100 due to rounding up.
Figure 1Summary of course progress and attrition on the 5-year undergraduate medical course.
Flags for academic and non-academic difficulty in those who completed the course
| Number (%) of students in each group acquiring each type of flag | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Struggler (preclinical & clinical) | Preclinical problems only | Borderline performance | Clinical problems only | Problems largely health- related | All students | |
| Year 1 | ||||||
| Failed >= 3 assessments | 13 (52) | 10 (55) | 7 (37) | 0 | 5 (29) | 35 |
| Poor attendance noted | 10 (40) | 2 (11) | 3 (16) | 1 (13) | 4 (24) | 20 |
| Poor behaviour noted | 8 (32) | 4 (22) | 1 (5) | 0 | 2 (12) | 15 |
| Health problems noted | 3 (12) | 1 (6) | 1 (5) | 0 | 3 (18) | 8 |
| Social problems noted | 3 (12) | 5 (28) | 1 (5) | 1 (13) | 1 (6) | 11 |
| Year 2 | ||||||
| Failed >= 3 assessments | 21 (84) | 15 (83) | 5 (26) | 1 (13) | 4 (24) | 46 |
| Poor attendance noted | 13 (52) | 4 (22) | 4 (21) | 0 | 3 (18) | 24 |
| Poor behaviour noted | 6 (24) | 0 | 2 (11) | 0 | 1 (6) | 9 |
| Health problems noted | 2 (8) | 2 (11) | 0 | 0 | 5 (29) | 9 |
| Social problems noted | 6 (24) | 6 (33) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Hepatitis B vaccinations incomplete | 4 (16) | 0 | 2 (11) | 0 | 1 (6) | 7 |
| Part I mark <50% | 9 (36) | 7 (39) | 6 (31) | 0 | 3 (18) | 25 |
Total flags in Year 1 and Year 2 by student outcome category
| Struggler (preclinical & clinical) | Preclinical problems only | Borderline performance | Clinical problems only | Problems largely health- related | All students | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total predictive flags in Year 1 only: Failed >= 3, attitude, attendance, health & social | 0 flags | 7 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 37 |
| 1 flag | 8 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 28 | |
| 2 flags | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | |
| 3 flags | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 4 flags | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 5 flags | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Number (%) in each group who had two or more flags | 10 (40) | 5 (28) | 2 (11) | 0 | 5 (29) | ||
| Total predictive flags in Year 2 only: Failed >= 3, attitude, attendance, health, social & missed vaccinations | 0 flags | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 29 |
| 1 flag | 9 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 26 | |
| 2 flags | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 18 | |
| 3 flags | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 4 flags | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Number (%) in each group who had two or more flags | 15 (60) | 10 (56) | 3 (16)) | 0 | 4 (24) | ||
| Total predictive flags in Year 1 + Year 2: Failed >= 3, attitude, attendance, health, social, missed vaccinations, & Part 1 <50% | 0 flags | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 19 |
| 1 flag | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 | |
| 2 flags | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 3 flags | 6 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 21 | |
| 4 flags | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | |
| 5 flags | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 6 flags | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 7 flags | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| Number (%) in each group who had four or more flags | 14(56) | 4 (22) | 2 (11) | 0 | 4 (24) | ||