Lt. Rice et al., SURGICAL CLERKSHIP PERFORMANCE OF TRADITIONAL AND NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS IN A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING-ENVIRONMENT, The American journal of surgery, 172(3), 1996, pp. 283-285
BACKGROUND: To determine whether nontraditional students perform bette
r than traditional students during surgical clerkships as reflected on
the surgical clerkship final examination. METHODS: Retrospective revi
ew of medical student records from the classes of 1986 through 1993. S
tudents admitted soon after completing undergraduate training were ide
ntified as ''traditional,'' and those having prior careers as ''nontra
ditional.'' RESULTS: There were 150 traditional and 72 nontraditional
students. The ratio of men to women and admission MCAT scores were not
significantly different. Traditional students were significantly youn
ger and had higher admission grade point averages (GPAs). Nontradition
al students were more likely to be married and have children. Final ex
amination scores of traditional and nontraditional students were not s
ignificantly different. MCAT scores and college GPAs were the best pre
dictors of final examination performance. Married students performed s
ignificantly better than single students. CONCLUSIONS: There was no si
gnificant difference between nontraditional and traditional student pe
rformance on the surgical clerkship final examination.