Predicting medical students who will have difficulty during their clinical training

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Student Assessment
• Clinical Competency

Background:

• Identifying student challenges in clinical attachments is crucial for improving educational outcomes.
• Previous research has not comprehensively classified difficulties or explored predictive factors for passing clinical attachments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To classify the types of difficulties medical students encounter during clinical attachments.
• To identify factors that predict or are associated with these student difficulties.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of student progress meeting data from 2008-2012.
• Categorization of problems into medical knowledge, professional behavior, and clinical skills.
• Predictive risk analysis for each problem category.

Main Results:

• 203 out of 561 students experienced difficulties.
• Prevalence: clinical skills (67%), knowledge (59%), professional behavior (29%).
• Higher risk associated with male gender, international entry, and early course failure. Lower Undergraduate Medical Admissions Test (UMAT) Paper 2 scores linked to professional/clinical skills issues. Graduate students had fewer clinical skills problems.

Conclusions:

• Clinical skills difficulties are as prevalent as medical knowledge deficits among students.
• International students are at the highest risk for clinical skills problems, potentially due to selection and acculturation.
• Predictive factors for difficulties include gender, entry route, early performance, and admissions test scores.