Differences in residency performances and specialty choices between graduates of three- and four-year curricula

This study identified differences in the specialty choices and residency program directors' performance ratings of residents graduated from two different curricula of the same medical school. One curriculum was three years long, and compressed two years of the basic sciences into one year of study. The other was a four-year program devoting two years each to the basic and clinical science, but with elements unifying the two areas. Using an 18-item form, the program directors rated the performance of 42-96% of the residents who had graduated in the classes of 1982, 1984, 1985, and 1986. (1982 was the only class of the three-year curriculum that was studied.) Graduates of the three-year program showed less strength in background medical knowledge and in their experience of using research data; their greatest strengths seemed to be in the sorts of skills that normally would be acquired during the course of residency experiences. Graduates of the four-year curriculum seemed more able to integrate background medical knowledge and effective care of patients. Their weaknesses appeared to be in those skills that would be developed during the course of the residency experience. The only marked differences between the two groups in terms of residency specialty choice were in surgery and medicine.