Jennifer Cleland, Rachelle Arnold, & Alistair Chesser.
Medical Teacher
September 2005, Vol. 27, Issue #6, pg. 504-508.
Review by: Linda Heun, Ph.D. <lheun@aacom.org>
The authors reinforce the importance of medical students receiving feedback and support when then have academic difficulties. They used focus group discussions and individual interviews with students who experienced academic failure in clinical examinations to explore the reasons for poor performance and develop more strategic formalized support systems.
The following themes emerged from the qualitative analysis:
- Personal problems during the timeframe of failure, including mental health problems, life events, and financial worries
- Not seeing study skills as a difficulty for themselves
- Practical issues associated with the OSCE exam itself including lack of practice
- Desire for more formative feedback
- Lack of personal responsibility to seek help
Overall, the students felt that the culture of medical school is unsupportive of those with academic difficulties.
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