How interruptions in students' medical education affect their clinical performance evaluations.

The enrollment records of 380 medical students from the graduating class of 1983-1988 at a four-year medical school were compared with the students' performances on two measures, third-year clinical rotation grades and National Board of Medical Examiners Part II examination (NBME-II) scores. Thirty-seven students (9.7%) interrupted their progress through medical school for negative (school-initiated, academic) reasons or neutral (student-initiated, nonacademic, or personal) reasons. On both performance measures, the students in the neutral group performed similarly to regular-progress students and significantly better than students who interrupted their attendance in medical school for negative reasons.