Combined premedical-medical programmes: programme structure and student outcomes at four universities

Purpose To assess educational and professional outcomes of an accelerated combined bachelor of science–doctor of medicine (BS–MD) program using data collected from 1968 through 2018. Method Participants of this longitudinal study included 2,235 students who entered medical school between 1968 and 2014: 1,134 in the accelerated program and 1,101 in the regular curriculum (control group)—matched by year of entrance to medical school, gender, and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores. Outcome measures included performance on medical licensing examinations, academic progress, satisfaction with medical school, educational debt, first-year residency program directors’ ratings on clinical competence, specialty choice, board certification, and faculty appointments. Results The authors found no practically important differences between students in the accelerated program and those in the control group on licensing examination performance, academic progress, specialty choice, board certification, and faculty appointments. Accelerated students had lower mean educational debt (P < .01, effect sizes = 0.81 and 0.45 for, respectively, their baccalaureate debt and medical school debt), lower satisfaction with their second year of medical school (P < .01, effect size = 0.21), and lower global satisfaction with their medical school education (P < .01, effect size = 0.35). Residency program directors’ ratings in 6 postgraduate competency areas showed no practically important differences between the students in the accelerated program and those in the control group. The proportion of Asian students was higher among program participants (P < .01, effect size = 0.43). Conclusions Students in the accelerated program earned BS and MD degrees at a faster pace and pursued careers that were comparable to students in a matched control who were in a regular MD program. Findings indicate that shortening the length of medical education does not compromise educational and professional outcomes.

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Preparing for the MD: How Long, at What Cost, and With What Outcomes?

Gonnella

Callahan

Erdmann

et al. 2020

Academic Medicine

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Combined premedical-medical programmes: programme structure and student outcomes at four universities

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Preparing for the MD: How Long, at What Cost, and With What Outcomes?

Preparing for the MD: How Long, at What Cost, and With What Outcomes?

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