Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Faking Good: Self Enhancement In Medical School Applicants, Barbara Griffin, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

OBJECTIVES The problem of dissimulation by applicants when self-report tests of personality are used for job selection has received considerable attention in non-medical contexts. Personality testing is not yet widely used in medical student selection, but this may change in the light of recent research demonstrating significant relationships between personality and performance in medical school. This study therefore aimed to assess the extent of self-enhancement in a sample of medical school applicants. METHODS A within-subjects design compared personality test scores collected in 2007 for 83 newly enrolled medical students with scores for the same students obtained on the same personality …

I Will Only Work From 2.00 To 5.00..., Ian Wilson, David Harding

Ian G Wilson

A few years ago a colleague, Mike, was interviewing a young family doctor, Bob, who wanted to work on a part-time basis in the family practice run byMike. Mike wanted a fulltime partner prepared to undertake home visits and after-hours consulting. The young doctor, Bob, was about to commence a diploma in creative writing and only wanted to work on a part-time basis. Because of the shortage of family doctors in the region, Mike agreed to explore the part-time options. The interview seemed to be going well until Mike registered that Bob wanted to finish work at exactly 5.00 pm …

Does Practice Make Perfect? The Effect Of Coaching And Retesting On Selection Tests Used For Admission To An Australian Medical School, Barbara Griffin, David Harding, Ian Wilson, Neville Yeomans

Ian G Wilson

Objective: To assess the practice effects from coaching on the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT), and the effect of both coaching and repeat testing on the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI). Design, setting and participants: Observational study based on a self-report survey of a cohort of 287 applicants for entry in 2008 to the new School of Medicine at the University of Western Sydney. Participants were asked about whether they had attended UMAT coaching or previous medical school interviews, and about their perceptions of the relative value of UMAT coaching, attending other interviews or having a “practice run” …

Developing A Process Of Continuous Quality Improvement In Medical School Assessment Processes: Lessons From One School, Alison Jones, Ian Wilson, Dorothy Keefe

Ian G Wilson

Introduction: Setting high quality assessments for medical students can be a resource intensive exercise. This study explored the feasibility of coordinating and rationalising the use of expertise to set assessments and to raise the standard of those assessments. Method: A literature review on staff development for assessment was undertaken and the governance structure for assessment design and monitoring in our institution was explored. A manual was developed to outline issues around assessment and processes for improving assessments and this was distributed to key personnel involved in the assessment setting process. A two-day examination setting workshop was organised and evaluated. A …

Medical Schools Can Cooperate: A New Joint Venture To Provide Medical Education In The Northern Rivers Region Of New South Wales, Sue Page, Hudson Birden, Judith Hudson, Jill Thistlethwaite, Chris Roberts, Ian Wilson, John Bushnell, John Hogg, Ben Freedman, Neville Yeomans

Ian G Wilson

The medical schools at the University of Western Sydney, University of Wollongong and University of Sydney have developed a joint program for training medical students through placements of up to 40 weeks on the New South Wales North Coast.

The new partnership agency - the North Coast Medical Education Collaboration - builds on the experience of regional doctors and their academic partners.

A steering comm ittee has identified the availability and support requireme nts of local practitioners to provide training, and has undertaken a comparative mapping of learning objectives and assessments from the courses of the three universities.

The goals …

Screening For Social Anxiety Disorder In First Year University Students: A Pilot Study, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterised by fear of negative evaluation.1 Sufferers become anxious when they perceive themselves as the centre of attention, finding it difficult to speak in public, attend social events and deal with authority figures. It is common, with an annual prevalence of 2.7% in Australia, but elsewhere in the western world it is higher (3–4%) and has a lifetime incidence of 7–13%. It has significant impact on education and employment, with lower levels of educational achievement and lower incomes.There are several screening tests for social anxiety disorder. The 24 question Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale is reliable, …

Distress Levels And Self-Reported Treatment Rates For Medicine, Law, Psychology And Mechanical Engineering Tertiary Students: A Cross-Sectional Study, Catherine Leahy, Ray Peterson, Ian Wilson, Jonathon Newbury, Anne Tonkin, Deborah Turnbull

Ian G Wilson

Objective: The aim of this research was to assess tertiary student distress levels with regards to (i) comparisons with normative population data, and (ii) the effects of discipline, year level, and student characteristics. Self-reported treatment rates and level of concern regarding perceived distress were also collected. Method: Students from all six years of an undergraduate medical course were compared with samples from Psychology, Law and Mechanical Engineering courses at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Students participated in one of three studies that were either webbased or paper-based. All studies included Kessler ’ s Measure of Psychological Distress (K10), and questions …

Interviewer Bias In Medical Student Selection: (With Updated Correction), Barbara Griffin, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

Objective: To investigate whether interviewer personality, sex or being of the same sex as the interviewee, and training account for variance between interviewers’ ratings in a medical student selection interview. Design, setting and participants: In 2006 and 2007, data were collected from cohorts of each year’s interviewers (by survey) and interviewees (by interview) participating in a multiple mini-interview (MMI) process to select students for an undergraduate medical degree in Australia. MMI scores were analysed and, to account for the nested nature of the data, multilevel modelling was used. Main outcome measures: Interviewer ratings; variance in interviewee scores. Results: In 2006, …

Learning Strategies Of First Year Nursing And Medical Students: A Comparative Study, Yenna Salamonson, Bronwyn Everett, Jane Koch, Ian Wilson, Patricia Davidson

Ian G Wilson

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE), where two or more professions learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care, has been proposed as a curriculum strategy to promote mutual understanding between professions, thus helping to prepare health professionals to work in challenging contemporary health systems. Although there is support for IPE initiatives within health professional education, differences in student motivation and learning strategies are likely to contribute to the success of these initiatives. Objective: To explore self-regulated learning strategies used by first year medical and nursing students, and to determine if these strategies were different …

The Context Of Clinical Teaching And Learning In Australia: Towards A Reconstruction Of The Relationship Between Medical Schools And Health Services, Julie Ash, Lucie Walters, David Prideaux, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

• Gaining clinical experience for an extended period of time in teaching hospitals is one of the enduring strengths of medical education. • Teaching hospitals have recently faced significant challenges, with increasing specialisation of services and workload pressures reducing clinical learning opportunities. • New clinical teaching environments have been established in Australia, particularly in rural and regional areas; these are proving to be ideal contexts for student learning. • The new clinical teaching environments have shown the importance of developing symbiotic relationships between universities and health services. Symbiotic clinical learning is built around longitudinal, patientbased learning emphasising priority health concerns. …

Big Fish In A Big Pond: A Study Of Academic Self Concept In First Year Medical Students, Kirsty Jackman, Ian G. Wilson, Marjorie Seaton, Rhonda G. Craven

Ian G Wilson

Background: Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that students in high-ability environments have lower academic self-concepts than equally able students in low-ability settings. Research has shown low academic self-concepts to be associated with negative educational outcomes. Social comparison processes have been implicated as fundamental to the BFLPE. Methods: Twenty first-year students in an Australian medical school completed a survey that included academic self-concept and social comparison measures, before and after their first written assessments. Focus groups were also conducted with a separate group of students to explore students’ perceptions of competence, the medical school environment, and social comparison processes. Results: …

'Part Of The Team': Professional Identity And Social Exclusivity In Medical Students, Roslyn Weaver, Kath Peters, Jane Koch, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

OBJECTIVES Medical students must develop not only their professional identity but also inclusive social attitudes for effective medical practice in the future. This study explores the elements that contribute to medical students’ sense of professional identity and investigates the concept of social exclusivity and how this might relate to students’ development of their identity as medical professionals. METHODS The study is based on qualitative data gathered in telephone interviews with 13 medical students enrolled in Years 1 or 3 at an undergraduate medical school at a university in Australia. The questions were open-ended and asked students about their experiences in …

Changes In Learning Approaches In First Year Medical Students, Ian Wilson, Roslyn Weaver, Y Salamonson

Ian G Wilson

Learning approaches have a long history in medical education. Recent research suggests that learning approaches reflect the nature of the educational program. Problem-based learning has been said to promote deep learning; however, previous studies have questioned this assumption. This study explored whether there was a shift in learning approaches in an undergraduate medical course and whether students with employment outside of study or from a non-English-speaking background were more likely to demonstrate a reduction in deep learning across the first year of medicine.Methods: First-year medical students at a university in Australia were invited to complete a survey about their approaches …

Australian Medical Students' Perceptions Of Professionalism And Ethics In Medical Television Programs, Roslyn Weaver, Ian G. Wilson

Ian G Wilson

Background: Medical television programs offer students fictional representations of their chosen career. This study aimed to discover undergraduate medical students’ viewing of medical television programs and students’ perceptions of professionalism, ethics, realism and role models in the programs. The purpose was to consider implications for teaching strategies. Methods: A medical television survey was administered to 386 undergraduate medical students across Years 1 to 4 at a university in New South Wales, Australia. The survey collected data on demographics, year of course, viewing of medical television programs, perception of programs’ realism, depiction of ethics, professionalism and role models. Results: The shows …

Only The Best: Medical Student Selection In Australia, Ian Wilson, Chris Roberts, Eleanor Flynn, Barbara Griffin

Ian G Wilson

Over the past two decades there has been a significant change in the way Australian medical schools select their students. Where once a school leaver’s matriculation score was the predominant criterion,1 there is now a range of selection procedures for entry into school-leaver, graduate-entry and mixed-entry medical school programs. The change in selection procedures has in part been driven by a desire to assess broader suitability than just academic performance, and the need for medical schools to be socially accountable and reduce discrimination in selection procedures.2 We provide an overview of medical student selection in Australia, including the aims and …