Volume 189 - Issue 4
Medical school selection criteria and the prediction of academic performance
Authors: David Wilkinson, Jianzhen Zhang, Gerard J Byrne, Malcolm H Parker and Raymond F Peterson
Med J Aust 2008; 189 (4): 234-235. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01998.x
Published online: 18 August 2008
Published online: 18 August 2008
In reply: Harding and Wilson offer no new data or insights to the challenge of medical student selection. They also say they are confused. We will try to help.
The GAMSAT (Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test) provided no additional predictive value in our study1 — effectively, it measures what grade point average (GPA) does, which is academic ability. We are continuing to use it because it is highly reliable, whereas GPA, being derived from multiple courses marked by a wide range of individuals in different universities, is less so. Simply put, the GAMSAT offers a highly reliable method of ranking students.
Harding and Wilson acknowledge our finding that the interview score adds very little predictive value, but this value increases in the later years of the program. The problem is that, in our judgement, the absolute increase is so small as to be useless.
Let us be clear here. We fully agree that good doctors need to be much more than smart. Our point is simply that there is no evidence that these additional characteristics can be selected for. Having dropped the interview, we can now focus even more on the quality of our teaching and professional development programs.
Until Harding and Wilson, or others, can demonstrate a selection process that clearly works — in terms of delivering even more effective doctors to society — we will focus more on teaching, training and development. As noted in our article,1 we will carefully monitor and report on the impact of the changes we have instituted to our admissions process.
References
- Wilkinson D, Zhang J, Byrne GJ, et al. Medical school selection criteria and the prediction of academic performance. Evidence leading to change in policy and practice at the University of Queensland. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 349-354. 0_FFCHIFIC