ArticleBMC medical education2018
Impact of accelerated, graduate-entry medicine courses: a comparison of profile, success, and specialty destination between graduate entrants to accelerated or standard medicine courses in UK.
Article in BMC medical education, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Assessing the predictive validity of the UCAT-A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Medical teacher · 2022Pooled it
- Situational judgement testing at different stages of undergraduate medical training and the risk of professionalism lapses: A cohort study.Medical education · 2026Article
- Widening access for graduates: Policies, pathways and technology.Medical education · 2026Article
- Expanding recruitment to medical school: the motivations for and perceived barriers to entry of non-science entrants to a graduate-entry medical course: a qualitative study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Big data analysis: examination of the relationship between candidates' sociodemographic characteristics and performance in the UK's Membership of the Royal College of Physicians Part 1 examination.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2025Article
- Development and innovation in a new distributed medical programme: Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM).Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Publication in the Australian medical student journal is associated with future academic success: a matched-cohort study.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Observational
- Article
- Observational
- Mental illness and suicide among physicians.Lancet (London, England) · 2021Review
- Predictors of ophthalmology career success (POCS) study.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2021Article
- Exploring UK medical school differences: the MedDifs study of selection, teaching, student and F1 perceptions, postgraduate outcomes and fitness to practise.BMC medicine · 2020Article
- A comparison of undergraduate outcomes for students from gateway courses and standard entry medicine courses.BMC medical education · 2020Article
- Gender and Educational Pathway Differences in 360-Degree Evaluations During Postgraduate Year Training in Taiwan.Journal of medical education and curricular developmentArticle
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle research has compared the profile, success, or specialty destinations of graduates entering UK medical schools via accelerated, 4-yr, standard 5-yr and 6-yr programmes. Four research questions directed this investigation:- What are the success rates for graduates entering graduate-entry vs. undergraduate medicine courses? How does the sociodemographic and educational profile differ between these two groups? Is success - in medical school and foundation training - dependent on prior degree, demographic factors, or aptitude test performance at selection? What specialty do graduate entry medicine students subsequently enter?
methodsThe data from two cohorts of graduates entering medical school in 2007 and 2008 (n = 2761) in the UKMED (UK Medical Education Database) database were studied: 1445 taking 4-yr and 1150 taking 5-yr medicine courses, with smaller numbers following other programmes.
resultsCompletion rates for degree programmes were high at 95%, with no significant difference between programme types. 4-yr entrants were older, less likely to be from Asian communities, had lower HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) tariff scores, but higher UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test) and GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) scores, than 5-yr entrants. Higher GAMSAT scores, black or minority ethnicity (BME), and younger age were independent predictors of successful completion of medical school. Foundation Programme (FPAS) selection measures (EPM - educational performance measure; SJT - situational judgment test) were positively associated with female sex, but negatively with black or minority ethnicity. Higher aptitude test scores were associated with EPM and SJT, GAMSAT with EPM, UKCAT with SJT. Prior degree subject, class of degree, HESA tariff, and type of medicine programme were not related to success.
conclusionsThe type of medicine programme has little effect on graduate entrant completion, or EPM or SJT scores, despite differences in student profile. Aptitude test score has some predictive validity, as do sex, age and BME, but not prior degree subject or class. Further research is needed to disentangle the influences of BME.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.