Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive (MC-0657), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0675, USA.
School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2018 Aug;23(3):499-511. doi: 10.1007/s10459-017-9808-8. Epub 2018 Jan 16.
Medical schools with a diverse student body face the challenge of ensuring that all students succeed academically. Many medical schools have implemented prematriculation programs to prepare students from diverse backgrounds; however, evidence on their impact is largely lacking. In this study, we analyzed participants' demographics as well as the impact of the prematriculation program on Year 1 performance. Predictive validity of the program was assessed and compared to other traditional predictors, including grade point average (GPA) and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and subscores. Linear mixed effect models determined the impact of the prematriculation program, and linear regression analysis assessed the predictive value of the overall score in the prematriculation program and other traditional predictors. Demographics of students participating in the prematriculation program from 2013 to 2015 (n = 75) revealed a significantly higher prevalence of academically disadvantaged students including older students, students with lower GPA and MCAT scores and students of racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in medicine, compared to non-participants (n = 293). Participants performed significantly better in Year 1 courses that were covered in the prematriculation program compared to courses that were not covered. The overall performance in the prematriculation program correlated significantly with Year 1 performance and was found to be a strong predictor for Year 1 performance. This study suggests that a prematriculation program can help students to succeed in the first year of medical school. The results have implications for medical schools seeking to implement or evaluate the effectiveness of their prematriculation program.
医学院校的学生群体多样化，面临着确保所有学生在学业上都取得成功的挑战。许多医学院校已经实施了预科课程，以培养来自不同背景的学生；然而，关于这些课程影响的证据在很大程度上是缺乏的。在这项研究中，我们分析了参与者的人口统计学特征，以及预科课程对一年级表现的影响。评估了该课程的预测效度，并与其他传统预测因素（包括平均绩点[GPA]和医学院入学考试[MCAT]成绩和子分数）进行了比较。线性混合效应模型确定了预科课程的影响，线性回归分析评估了预科课程整体得分和其他传统预测因素的预测价值。2013 年至 2015 年参加预科课程的学生的人口统计学特征（n=75）显示，与非参与者（n=293）相比，学业成绩较差的学生，包括年龄较大的学生、平均绩点和 MCAT 成绩较低的学生以及在医学领域代表性不足的种族和族裔学生的比例明显更高。与未涵盖预科课程的课程相比，参加预科课程的学生在第一年的课程中表现明显更好。预科课程的整体表现与第一年的表现显著相关，并且被发现是第一年表现的强有力预测因素。这项研究表明，预科课程可以帮助学生在医学院的第一年取得成功。研究结果对寻求实施或评估预科课程有效性的医学院校具有重要意义。
