Impacto en la transición de los estudiantes de medicina de la USFQ luego del cambio curricular en el año 2011 según resultados de pruebas de progreso internacional (NBME), desempeño académico en materias básicas y clínicas Un estudio retrospectivo transversal

摘要

PURPOSEUniversidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) implemented an undergraduate curriculum adjustment during 2011 for a better integration between basic and clinical sciences, and improvement in performance on National Board of Medical Examiners-Comprehensive Basic Science Examination (NBME-CBSE). The aim of the study was to evaluate this curriculum adjustment over a three-year period of implementation in order to assess student’s progress and performance. METHODSWe used the NBME-CBSE reports, scores of specific clinical science subjects, and number of attempts to pass the NBME-CBSE to measure the impact on knowledge acquisition between a control group of medical graduates (n=45) and an intervention group (n=37) of last year medical students. The results of NBME-CBSE subject areas were reported in a qualitative performance band and hence, an ordinal scale of 1-5 was developed based on the band length. For the analysis purpose we collapsed this scale into two categories: unsatisfactory (1-2) and satisfactory (3-5). We used parametric and non-parametric statistical methodologies to analyze the data.RESULTSFive of the eighteen NBME-CBSE subjects showed better performance in control group, while only genetics had higher performance in intervention group. The control group needed 4.11 attempts to pass the NBME-CBSE compared to 4.59 of the intervention group. No difference in clinical subject’s scores was found. CONCLUSIONThe differences found between the two groups are difficult to be explained by the curriculum adjustment. We believe that a 3-year assessment after the adjustment may be a short period of time to make definite conclusions. Non-controlled variables should be taken in account in further research. The initial results highlight the need to re-evaluate our approach to integrate basic and clinical sciences.