Admitting Deserving Medical Students from Rural and Disadvantaged: Patan Academy of Health Sciences' Approach

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Workforce Distribution
• Rural Health

Background:

• Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) aims to train physicians committed to rural service.
• An innovative student selection strategy is crucial for achieving PAHS's goals.
• This paper details PAHS's unique medical student selection scheme.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the PAHS medical student selection scheme.
• To favor enrollment of deserving applicants from rural and disadvantaged groups.
• To improve the distribution of physicians in rural Nepal.

Main Methods:

• A three-step selection scheme was developed by a medical educator committee.
• Personal Quality Assessment (PQA) and Admission OSPE evaluated cognitive and non-cognitive attributes.
• Social Inclusion Matrix (SIM) provided preferential credits for rural/disadvantaged applicants, linked with scholarships.

Main Results:

• Over 50% of enrolled students are from rural Nepal, with 10% from the most disadvantaged regions.
• Approximately one-third of students are female, and one-third attended public/community schools.
• Sixty percent of students receive scholarships covering 50-100% of tuition fees.

Conclusions:

• The PAHS selection scheme successfully enrolls a high proportion of students from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Scholarship provisions enable these students to pursue medical education.
• The findings suggest the scheme's effectiveness in addressing physician distribution challenges.