Widening access? Characteristics of applicants to medical and dental schools, compared with UCAS

Gallagher, Jennifer E.; Niven, Victoria; Donaldson, Nora; Wilson, Nairn

doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2009.963

Cited by 28 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Sixty-six students completed the questionnaire twice (pre-and post-behavioural science course), giving a response rate of 75%. The gender ratio of responders (46 females, 20 males) was slightly higher than the School's usual ratio of female to male students and that of UK dental schools as a whole (32). In total, there were 11 female and 11 male non-responders, and there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between genders in their response rate.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Does empathy change in first‐year dental students?

Beattie

Durham

Harvey

et al. 2011

Eur J Dental Education

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Introduction: Professionalism is a central tenet of the dental undergraduate curriculum. Dental undergraduate curricula and standards expect the dentist to put the patient’s interests first, and in this respect, an important attitude is empathy. Objective: This study examined the self‐reported empathy levels of first‐year dental students before and after an early analytical exposure to behavioural sciences and the clinical encounter. Method: First‐year dental undergraduates were given an attitudinal questionnaire to complete before and after the behavioural science course. The questionnaire consisted of the HP version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and the Patient‐Practitioner Orientation Scale. Paired non‐parametric tests and Spearman’s Rho correlations, along with simple descriptive statistics, were used to test the statistical significance of observations. Results: A total of 66 paired questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 75%. There were no correlations between age and total mean score of JSPE or PPOS, and no gender differences. There was a significant increase (P < 0.01) in empathy as measured by the JSPE between pre‐ and post‐course scores. The PPOS did not record any significant change in the sharing, caring or total scale scores pre‐ to post‐course. Conclusion: The modified JSPE has potential utility in assessing the cognitive‐affective aspect of dental students’ empathy. Using the JSPE, short‐term measurable empathy changes can be detected in first‐year dental undergraduates after the structured and assessed analytical introduction to the clinical encounter and environment.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Does empathy change in first‐year dental students?

Beattie

Durham

Harvey

et al. 2011

Eur J Dental Education

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“…The medical student population is not representative of the UK population as a whole. Available information suggests that applicants from poorer socio‐economic backgrounds remain under‐represented for multiple reasons, 1 which are likely to include limited educational opportunity, resulting in under‐achievement, lack of role models, inadequate support from family and schools, and sometimes active discouragement from friends and peers 2,3 . These pressures can erode able students’ abilities to perceive themselves as potential future doctors 4 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opening doors and minds: a path for widening access

Smith

Alexander

Dubb

et al. 2013

The Clinical Teacher

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By collaboratively linking multiple activities organised by the Outreach Office, academic staff and medical students, an annual cohort of approximately 20 participants from non-traditional backgrounds was provided with sustained support in preparing for applying to medical school. The limited data available from follow-up suggests that this approach may have helped overcome the social disadvantage facing these applicants.

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“…Both medicine and dentistry attract, and admit a higher proportion of students from socially advantaged backgrounds, albeit that dentistry has done rather better in attracting students from state schools than its medical counterparts. 6 There is limited evidence from medicine that graduate entry programmes are having success in increasing the representation of students who haven't traditionally entered higher education in several institutions. Powis et al 7 suggested that graduate entry programmes in medicine have increased the diversity of the student body and highlighted the closer match between the background of medical graduate entry students and the general population when a comparison is made with traditional five-year programmes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research to date has considered applicants and/or successful applicants to dentistry as a whole. 6,[9][10][11] In recent years dentistry has proved attractive to ethnic minority applicants, particularly Asian applicants, while black students are under-represented when compared with the UCAS applicant population as a whole. 6 Dentistry also tends to attract more applicants from selective and independent schools and also a greater proportion of those from higher socioeconomic groups when compared with those applying to higher education generally, albeit to a lesser extent than medicine.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%