Selecting top candidates for medical school selection interviews- a non-compensatory approach

Shulruf, Boaz; O’Sullivan, Anthony J; Velan, Gary M.

doi:10.1186/s12909-020-02031-6

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In this context, it is important to note that medical entrance tests and GPA scores may favour particular groups above others. Male gender, younger age, English as a primary language and higher socioeconomic status are all associated with higher performance in the GAMSAT [ 26 , 27 ], resulting in an overrepresentation of these students in medical programs [ 28 ]. Further, students with a Health-related background degree have been reported to achieve lower GAMSAT scores than students from other backgrounds, with Biomedical and Science students having the highest scores [ 26 ], a finding consistent with our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream

et al. 2022

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Background Given the importance of the selection process, many medical schools are reviewing their selection criteria. The traditional pathway for post-graduate medicine has been from science-based undergraduate degrees, however some programs are expanding their criteria. In this study we investigated academic success across all years and themes of the Deakin University medical degree, based on the type of degree undertaken prior to admission. We evaluated whether the traditional pathway of biomedical science into medicine should remain the undergraduate degree of choice, or whether other disciplines should be encouraged. Methods Data from 1159 students entering the degree from 2008 to 2016 was collected including undergraduate degree, grade point average (GPA), Graduate Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT) score and academic outcomes during the 4 years of the degree. Z-scores were calculated for each assessment within each cohort and analysed using a one sample t-test to determine if they differed from the cohort average. Z-scores between groups were analysed by 1-way ANOVA with LSD post-hoc analysis correcting for multiple comparisons. Results The majority of students had Science (34.3%) or Biomedical Science (31.0%) backgrounds. 27.9% of students had a Health-related undergraduate degree with smaller numbers of students from Business (3.5%) and Humanities (3.4%) backgrounds. At entry, GPA and GAMSAT scores varied significantly with Biomedical Science and Science students having significantly higher scores than Health students. Health students consistently outperformed students from other disciplines in all themes while Biomedical Science students underperformed. Conclusions Our data suggest that a Health-related undergraduate degree results in the best performance throughout medical school, whereas a Biomedical Science background is associated with lower performance. These findings challenge the traditional Biomedical Science pathway into medicine and suggest that a health background might be more favourable when determining the selection criteria for graduate entry into medicine.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream

et al. 2022

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“…It is suggested that the new selection process algorithm plays a key role in its superiority. A recent study that modeled a non-compensatory model for the selection of applicants to interview for medicine at UNSW demonstrated that a non-compensatory model raises the selection threshold for both ATAR and UMAT without significantly impacting the mean socioeconomic status score of the selected group (Table 4) [9]. In practice, the new selection process is more likely to de-select applicants who ranked low on one selection tool despite being ranked highly on the other 2 tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The new selection process's algorithm utilizes a non-compensatory approach [9], whereby performance in each of the 3 selection tools is ranked and the lowest rank among the 3 tools, including within the interview, takes priority for establishing the final selection rank. Thus, a high rank in one tool (e.g., UAC Rank) cannot compensate for a lower rank in another (e.g., interview).…”

Section: Introduction Background/rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

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Medical student selection process enhanced by improving selection algorithms and changing the focus of interviews in Australia: a descriptive study

Shulruf¹,

Velan

Kennedy

2022

J Educ Eval Health Prof

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Purpose: The study investigates the efficacy of new features introduced to the selection process for medical school at the University of New South Wales, Australia: (1) considering the relative ranks rather than scores of the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test and Australian Tertiary Admission Rank; (2) structured interview focusing on interpersonal interaction and concerns should the applicants become students; and (3) embracing interviewers’ diverse perspectives.Methods: Data from 5 cohorts of students were analyzed, comparing outcomes of the second year in the medicine program of 4 cohorts of the old selection process and 1 of the new process. The main analysis comprised multiple linear regression models for predicting academic, clinical, and professional outcomes, by section tools and demographic variables.Results: Selection interview marks from the new interview (512 applicants, 2 interviewers each) were analyzed for inter-rater reliability, which identified a high level of agreement (kappa=0.639). No such analysis was possible for the old interview since it required interviewers to reach a consensus. Multivariate linear regression models utilizing outcomes for 5 cohorts (N=905) revealed that the new selection process was much more effective in predicting academic and clinical achievement in the program (R2=9.4%–17.8% vs. R2=1.5%–8.4%).Conclusion: The results suggest that the medical student selection process can be significantly enhanced by employing a non-compensatory selection algorithm; and using a structured interview focusing on interpersonal interaction and concerns should the applicants become students; as well as embracing interviewers’ diverse perspectives.

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“…Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of admission tools against a broad range of outcomes within and beyond the medical program [46]. Our review provided useful examples of selection tools for the measurement of students' different aptitudes by testing innate aptitudes disclosing suitability for a competent career in surgery.…”

Section: Clinical Implication and Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The innate aptitude’s effect on the surgical task performance: a systematic review

Boghdady

Ewalds‐Kvist

2021

Updates Surg

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Surgery is known to be a craft profession requiring individuals with specific innate aptitude for manipulative skills, and visuospatial and psychomotor abilities. The present-day selection process of surgical trainees does not include aptitude testing for the psychomotor and manual manipulative skills of candidates for required abilities. We aimed to scrutinize the significance of innate aptitudes in surgical practice and impact of training on skills by systematically reviewing their significance on the surgical task performance. A systematic review was performed in compliance with PRISMA guidelines. An initial search was carried out on PubMed/Medline for English language articles published over 20 years from January 2001 to January 2021. Search strategy and terms to be used included ‘aptitude for surgery’, ‘innate aptitude and surgical skills, ‘manipulative abilities and surgery’, and ‘psychomotor skills and surgery’. MERSQI score was applied to assess the quality of quantitatively researched citations. The results of the present searches provided a total of 1142 studies. Twenty-one studies met the inclusion criteria out of which six citations reached high quality and rejected our three null hypothesis. Consequently, the result specified that all medical students cannot reach proficiency in skills necessary for pursuing a career in surgery; moreover, playing video games and/or musical instruments does not promote skills for surgery, and finally, there may be a valid test with predictive value for novices aspiring for a surgical career. MERSQI mean score was 11.07 (SD = 0.98; range 9.25–12.75). The significant findings indicated that medical students with low innate aptitude cannot reach skills necessary for a competent career in surgery. Training does not compensate for pictorial-skill deficiency, and a skill is needed in laparoscopy. Video-gaming and musical instrument playing did not significantly promote aptitude for microsurgery. The space-relation test has predictive value for a good laparoscopic surgical virtual-reality performance. The selection process for candidates suitable for a career in surgery requests performance in a simulated surgical environment.

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Selecting top candidates for medical school selection interviews- a non-compensatory approach

Cited by 6 publications

References 26 publications

Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream

Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream

Medical student selection process enhanced by improving selection algorithms and changing the focus of interviews in Australia: a descriptive study

The innate aptitude’s effect on the surgical task performance: a systematic review

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