Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37465374›Full record

ArticleAdvances in medical education and practice2023

The Ethiopian Anesthetist Licensing Examination and Associated Improvement in in-School Student Performance: A Retrospective Study.

Yohannes Molla Asemu, Tegbar Yigzaw, Firew Ayalew, Leulayehu Akalu, Fedde Scheele, Thomas van den Akker

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Article in Advances in medical education and practice, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Yohannes Molla AsemuHealth Workforce Improvement Program, Jhpiego, an Affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, Ethiopia Country Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0001-6623-0384
Tegbar YigzawHealth Workforce Improvement Program, Jhpiego, an Affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, Ethiopia Country Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0002-3275-7900
Firew AyalewHealth Workforce Improvement Program, Jhpiego, an Affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, Ethiopia Country Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Leulayehu AkaluEthiopian Association of Anesthetists (EAA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0001-5757-6009
Fedde ScheeleAthena Institute, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-9593-257X
Thomas van den AkkerAthena Institute, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-9890-9145

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Ethiopia introduced a national licensing examination (NLE) in response to growing concerns about the competence of graduates and the quality of education. This study aimed to assess the associated in-school student performance changes in anesthetist training programs following NLE implementation. Methods: Academic records of 1493 graduate anesthetists were retrospectively obtained from eight universities before (n=932) and after (n=561) NLE implementation. Four universities were first-generation (oldest), three were second-generation, and one was third-generation (newest). We compared the yearly (Y1 to Y4) and cumulative grade point averages (GPA) to assess if there were in-school student performance differences between the two periods. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney Results: Overall, there was a small to moderate improvement in student academic performance following NLE implementation. However, the statistically significant differences were limited to first-generation university students and those entering directly from high school. We found considerable positive differences in all five performance measures in first-generation university students, with Year-1 GPA and cumulative GPA measurements exhibiting large effect sizes (Cohen's r = 0.96 and 0.79, respectively, p <0.005). Those entering from high school demonstrated significant differences in four of five performance measures, with the largest positive gains on the year-1 GPA (median before [n=765] and after [n=480]: 3.11-3.30, 95% CI (0.09, 0.22), r=0.46, p <0.005)). Second- and third-generation university students showed no significant differences, while nurse entrants exhibited a significant difference in their Y2GPA scores only with an actual drop in performance. Conclusion: The Ethiopian anesthetist NLE is associated with an overall modest in-school academic performance improvement, supporting its use. The stagnant or declining performance among nurse entrants and the newest (second and third) generation university students deserve further scrutiny.

Indexed as

anesthesiaanesthetistassociate clinicianlicensing examinationnon-physician

Identifiers

PMID37465374
PMCPMC10351591

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