Rx Medicare

Background:There is evidence that males and females differ in their attainment on a variety of assessments in general and in medical education. It has been suggested that the True-False-Abstain (TFA) format with negative marking is biased against females.Methods:Eight years worth of examination data from the first two years of an undergraduate medical curriculum was analysed. 359 courses were evaluated for statistically significant differences between the genders using ANOVA. Logistic regression was used to test if subject area, calendar year or exam format predicted that males or females do better (termed male advantage or female advantage).Results:Statistically significant differences between the genders were found in 111 (31%) of assessments with females doing better than males in 85 and males better in 26. Female advantage was associated with a particular year (2001), the Personal and Professional Development strand of the curriculum, in course assessment and short answer questions. Male advantage was associated with the anatomy and physiology strand of the curriculum and examinations containing TFA formats, where the largest gender difference was noted. Males were 16.7 times more likely than females to do better on an assessment if it had any questions using the TFA format.Conclusions:Although a range of statistically significant gender differences was found, they were concentrated in TFA and short answer formats. The largest effect was for TFA formats where males were much more likely to do better than females. The gender bias of TFA assessments in medical education is yet another reason why caution should be exercised in their use.

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Background:To determine if medical students on a modern MBChB programme who did an optional intercalated degree with their peers who did not intercalate; in particular, to monitor performance in subsequent undergraduate degree exams.MethodThis was a retrospective, observational study of anonymised databases of medical student assessment outcomes. Data was accessed for graduates, University of Aberdeen Medical School, Scotland, UK, from the years 2003 to 2007 (n=861). The main outcome measure was marks for summative degree assessments taken after intercalating.Results:Of 861 medical students, 154 (17.9%) students did an intercalated degree. After adjustment for cohort, maturity, gender and baseline (3rd year) performance, having done an IC degree was a significant predictor of attaining high (17-20) common assessment scale (CAS) marks in three of the six degree assessments occurring after the IC students rejoined the course: the 4th year written exam (p=0.005), 4th year OSCE (p=0.005) and the 5th year Medical Elective project (p=0.005). Conclusion:Intercalating adds benefits in terms of improved performance in Years 4 and 5 of the MBChB. This improved performance will further contribute to higher academic ranking for Foundation Year posts. Long-term follow-up is required to identify if doing an optional intercalated degree as part of a modern medical degree is predictive of following a career in academic medicine.

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