Ellaway Rachel H, Bates Amanda, Girard Suzanne, Buitenhuis Deanna, Lee Kyle, Warton Aidan, Russell Steve, Caines Jill, Traficante Eric, Graves Lisa
Undergraduate Medical Education, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Med Educ. 2014 Jul;48(7):674-86. doi: 10.1111/medu.12496.
Medical schools have tended to admit students with strong backgrounds in the biomedical sciences. Previous studies have shown that those with backgrounds in the social sciences can be as successful in medical school as those with science backgrounds. However, the experience of being a 'non-science' student over time has not been well described.
A mixed-methods study was developed and run with the aim of elucidating the personal experiences of science and non-science students at our institution. Data were generated from a student survey that focused on participants' self-identification as science or non-science students, and on their sense of preparedness and stress, and from a series of student focus groups exploring participants' experiences of science and non-science issues in all aspects of their training. Descriptive statistics were generated for structured survey data. Focus group data and unstructured survey data were analysed to identify common themes. End-of-module and end-of-year examination data for the four class cohorts in the programme were also analysed to compare science and non-science student performance over time.
There were clear differences between the experiences and performance of science and non-science students. We found dichotomies in students' self-reported sense of preparedness and stress levels, and marked differences in their examination performance, which diminished over time to converge around the third year of their studies. Combining science and non-science students in the same class affected the students to different extents and in different ways. The potential disruption of mixing science and non-science students diminished as their levels of performance converged.
The psychosocial stress experienced by non-science students and the challenges it posed, in both their academic and their personal lives, have implications for how such students should be supported, and how curricula can be configured to afford quality learning for all medical students.
医学院校倾向于录取具有强大生物医学科学背景的学生。先前的研究表明，具有社会科学背景的学生在医学院校中可以和具有科学背景的学生一样成功。然而，随着时间推移，“非科学”专业学生的经历尚未得到充分描述。
开展了一项混合方法研究，旨在阐明本校科学专业和非科学专业学生的个人经历。数据来自一项学生调查，该调查聚焦于参与者将自己认定为科学专业或非科学专业学生的情况，以及他们的准备感和压力感；还来自一系列学生焦点小组，这些焦点小组探讨了参与者在培训各方面的科学和非科学问题经历。对结构化调查数据进行描述性统计。对焦点小组数据和非结构化调查数据进行分析以确定共同主题。还分析了该项目四个班级队列的模块结束和学年结束考试数据，以比较科学专业和非科学专业学生随时间推移的表现。
科学专业和非科学专业学生的经历和表现存在明显差异。我们发现学生自我报告的准备感和压力水平存在二分法，并且他们的考试成绩存在显著差异，这种差异随着时间推移逐渐减小，在学习的第三年左右趋于一致。将科学专业和非科学专业学生编在同一个班级对学生产生了不同程度和不同方式的影响。随着他们的表现水平趋于一致，将科学专业和非科学专业学生混合带来的潜在干扰也减小了。
非科学专业学生经历的心理社会压力及其在学术和个人生活中带来的挑战，对于应如何支持这类学生以及应如何配置课程以确保所有医学生获得高质量学习具有启示意义。
