Mihalynuk Tanis, Snadden David, Bates Joanna, Scott Ian, Frinton Vera, Wilson Galt
University of British Columbia, Canada.
Med Teach. 2008;30(4):e108-14. doi: 10.1080/01421590801931170.
The University of British Columbia, Canada doubled its class intake in 2004, creating, in addition to its main metropolitan campus, 2 distributed campuses, one in a medium sized island city, and the other in a small geographically isolated northern city. Our admission process attempts to identify students more suitable for education in our northern, rural site. Students also indicate their preferred site. Little is known about what influences student choice when they have more than one campus to choose from at a single medical school.
To understand what influences students' preference of study site in a single medical school with 3 separate campuses, one with a rural mission.
We used qualitative methodology to examine what influenced student choice of study site. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students at all three sites (n = 37). Iterative and independent coding and analysis took place to corroborate research findings.
The primary theme was size of class and community. Some students viewed a larger class size and larger study and practice community as advantages, others viewed a smaller class size and smaller study and practice community as important. Additional themes were perceptions of quality of education, relationships, and lifestyle. These were related to the larger theme of class and community size and overlapped. Students articulated advantages and disadvantages of each site, and dynamic tensions in their choice of sites. Close relationships and educational experiences were emphasized at the smaller regional sites. Greater access to medical and educational specialists and the diversity offered by a larger, more anonymous class, patient case-mix, and community were emphasized at the originating and largest site. Partner and family--trumps--could overrule preferred site choices.
Early and comprehensive descriptions of the differences between sites for students and their partners is needed to help truly informed choices.
加拿大英属哥伦比亚大学于2004年将班级招生人数翻倍，除了其主要的大都市校区外，还设立了两个分布式校区，一个位于中等规模的岛屿城市，另一个位于地理上孤立的北方小城市。我们的招生过程试图识别出更适合在我们北方农村校区接受教育的学生。学生们也会表明他们偏好的校区。对于当学生在同一所医学院有多个校区可供选择时，是什么影响他们的选择，目前知之甚少。
了解在一所拥有三个独立校区（其中一个承担农村使命）的医学院中，是什么影响学生对学习地点的偏好。
我们采用定性方法来研究影响学生学习地点选择的因素。对所有三个校区的学生进行了半结构化访谈（n = 37）。进行了迭代和独立的编码与分析，以证实研究结果。
主要主题是班级规模和社区。一些学生认为较大的班级规模以及较大的学习和实践社区是优势，另一些学生则认为较小的班级规模以及较小的学习和实践社区很重要。其他主题包括对教育质量、人际关系和生活方式的看法。这些与班级和社区规模的更大主题相关且相互重叠。学生们阐述了每个校区的优缺点，以及他们在校区选择中的动态矛盾心理。较小的地区性校区强调密切的人际关系和教育体验。在主校区强调有更多机会接触医学和教育专家，以及更大、更具匿名性的班级、患者病例组合和社区所带来的多样性。伴侣和家庭因素可能会推翻首选的校区选择。
需要尽早并全面地向学生及其伴侣描述各校区之间的差异，以帮助他们做出真正明智的选择。
