Is undergraduate performance predictive of postgraduate performance?
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Wayne Woloschuk1, Kevin McLaughlin, Bruce Wright
1University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. woloschu@ucalgary.ca
Background:
The continuity of undergraduate to postgraduate training suggests that performance in medical school should predict performance later in residency.
Purpose:
The goal is to determine whether undergraduate performance is predictive of postgraduate performance.
Methods:
Residency program directors assessed the performance of medical school graduates (Classes 2004-2006) at the end of the 1st postgraduate year. Measures of undergraduate performance were retrieved including grade point averages, clerkship in-training evaluation reports, and the total score on the Medical Council of Canada Part 1 exam.
Results:
Complete data were available for 242 (81.5%) graduates. Postgraduate performance consisted of two reliable factors (clinical acumen and human sensitivity) that explained 78% of the variance. Correlations between undergraduate and the two postgraduate measures were low (.03-.31).
Conclusions:
Measures of undergraduate performance appear to be poor predictors of performance in residency that consisted of two primary dimensions (clinical acumen and human sensitivity).
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