The AAMC study of medical student attrition

Johnson, Davis G.

doi:10.1097/00001888-196510000-00001

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Our findings agree with previous research linking academic difficulty and dropout [26,34,35]. Unsurprisingly, there was evidence of academic difficulty in over half the dropout students.…”

Section: Discussion and Comparison With Other Studiessupporting

confidence: 92%

Medical School Attrition-Beyond the Statistics A Ten Year Retrospective Study

et al. 2013

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BackgroundMedical school attrition is important - securing a place in medical school is difficult and a high attrition rate can affect the academic reputation of a medical school and staff morale. More important, however, are the personal consequences of dropout for the student. The aims of our study were to examine factors associated with attrition over a ten-year period (2001–2011) and to study the personal effects of dropout on individual students.MethodsThe study included quantitative analysis of completed cohorts and qualitative analysis of ten-year data. Data were collected from individual student files, examination and admission records, exit interviews and staff interviews. Statistical analysis was carried out on five successive completed cohorts. Qualitative data from student files was transcribed and independently analysed by three authors. Data was coded and categorized and key themes were identified.ResultsOverall attrition rate was 5.7% (45/779) in 6 completed cohorts when students who transferred to other medical courses were excluded. Students from Kuwait and United Arab Emirates had the highest dropout rate (RR = 5.70, 95% Confidence Intervals 2.65 to 12.27;p < 0.0001) compared to Irish and EU students combined. North American students had a higher dropout rate than Irish and EU students; RR = 2.68 (1.09 to 6.58;p = 0.027) but this was not significant when transfers were excluded (RR = 1.32(0.38, 4.62);p = 0.75). Male students were more likely to dropout than females (RR 1.70, .93 to 3.11) but this was not significant (p = 0.079).Absenteeism was documented in 30% of students, academic difficulty in 55.7%, social isolation in 20%, and psychological morbidity in 40% (higher than other studies). Qualitative analysis revealed recurrent themes of isolation, failure, and despair. Student Welfare services were only accessed by one-third of dropout students.ConclusionsWhile dropout is often multifactorial, certain red flag signals may alert us to risk of dropout including non-EU origin, academic struggling, absenteeism, social isolation, depression and leave of absence. Psychological morbidity amongst dropout students is high and Student Welfare services should be actively promoted. Absenteeism should prompt early intervention. Behind every dropout statistic lies a personal story. All medical schools have a duty of care to support students who leave the medical programme.

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“…Our findings agree with previous research linking academic difficulty and dropout [26,34,35]. Unsurprisingly, there was evidence of academic difficulty in over half the dropout students.…”

Section: Discussion and Comparison With Other Studiessupporting

confidence: 92%

Medical School Attrition-Beyond the Statistics A Ten Year Retrospective Study

et al. 2013

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“…Surely, not all of the dropouts should have been graduated, as some of them probably lack the ability or other personally qualities needed to enter the medical practice. On the other hand, if methods of recruiting, selection, teaching and evaluating can be improved, then we can expect that higher proportion of our entrants can become adequate physicians [13]. Therefore, findings of the present study prompted us to provide several recommendations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Predictors of Attrition and Academic Success of Medical Students: A 30-Year Retrospective Study

et al. 2012

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AimTo determine attrition and predictors of academic success among medical students at University of Split, Croatia.MethodsWe analysed academic records of 2054 students enrolled during 1979–2008 period.ResultsWe found that 26% (533/2054) of enrolled students did not graduate. The most common reasons for attrition were ‘personal’ (36.4%), transfer to another medical school (35.6%), and dismissal due to unsatisfactory academic record (21.2%). Grade point average (GPA) and study duration of attrition students were significantly associated with parental education. There were 1126 graduates, 395 men and 731 women. Their average graduation GPA was 3.67±0.53 and study duration 7.6±2.44 years. During 5-year curriculum only 6.4% (42/654) of students graduated in time, and 55% (240/472) of students graduated in time after curriculum was extended to 6 years. Variables predicting whether a student will graduate or not were high school grades, entrance exam score and year of enrollment. Significant predictors of graduation grades were high school grades and entrance exam score. Entrance exam score predicted length of studying.ConclusionPreadmission academic qualifications and year of enrollment predict academic success in medical school. More attention should be devoted to high attrition.

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“…Of these 32 studies, 17 were excluded for using either unwanted outcomes or outcomes defined in such a way that dropout was typically contaminated by delay in study 43–59 . Seven studies were excluded for proving irrelevant to our research question on closer inspection, 60–66 two for representing duplicate publications, 67,68 three for representing non‐primary studies, 69–71 two for examining irrelevant populations, 72,73 and one for being unpublished 74 . In addition, an ancestry search of all 69 studies referred for quality assessment resulted in the inclusion of a further 11 relevant studies 75–85 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%