Differential predictive validity in assessing academic performance in institutions of higher education has been assessed for a number of years. Historically, this body of research focused on gender and ethnicity. This study extends that research to geographic region (e.g., rural and non-rural populations). Specifically, this study predicted relationships between preadmission variables of incoming grade point average (GPA) and medical college admissions test (MCAT) and output variables of medical school GPA and comprehensive osteopathic medical licensing exam (COMLEX). Results indicate incoming GPA and MCAT are good variables to use to predict academic performance in medical school and score on the licensing board exam. Further, rural populations presented similar scores on preadmission variables and, thus, are not at a disadvantage in the admission process. A second goal of this study was to explore differential prediction of medical school GPA and COMLEX Level 1 score for the MCAT for rural and non-rural populations. Results provide some evidence of differential prediction of COMLEX score for the physical and biological sciences MCAT sub-tests such that rural populations' performance on the COMLEX Level 1 exam was underpredicted. Hence, when rural and non-rural populations present the same physical sciences and biological sciences MCAT sub-test score, the rural sub-group is predicted to obtain a lower COMLEX score and non-rural sub-group is predicted to obtain a higher COMLEX score. Further, when the two sub-groups present different MCAT scores for the physical and biological sciences sub-test, they are likely to obtain similar scores on the COMLEX. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

A structured conceptualization evaluation is made on the community- based education program called Mini Medical School at the University of California, Riverside. Two surveys were created with the intention of characterizing the socioeconomic and health background of the population that attends the Mini Medical School events in Riverside County. The surveys were distributed to general Mini Medical School venues as well as a School of Medicine Open House event held in spring of 2016. Results of the survey are then compared to similar socioeconomic and health reports of Riverside County through various online databases. We found significant statistical differences in the racial and ethnic breakdown of the Mini Medical School population and Riverside County. We found no statistical differences in the poverty levels between the Mini Medical School population and Riverside County. We found mixed results on the prevalence of each of the health conditions listed on the survey. Further formative and summative evaluations need to be completed on both the population that attends the Mini Medical School events as well as the pre-health students who volunteer for the program to ensure that goals laid out are being met and that the program is being delivered as intended.

It has been estimated that in the United States, between 44,000 to 98,000 patients succumb to medical errors each year. Due to a shortage of graduates of domestic medical schools, many graduates of foreign medical schools are practicing in the United States. The medical education received in foreign medical schools may not be equivalent to the medical education received in domestic medical schools, which are schools located in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Differences due to the educational backgrounds of the foreign-schooled physicians may contribute to an increase in medical board disciplining. Furthermore, graduates of medical schools where the instruction is not conducted in the English language may receive increased medical board disciplining when compared to the graduates of medical schools where English is the language of instruction. Finally, domestic medical schools that are ranked low according to The Gourman Report, 8th Edition may provide a substandard medical education, causing their graduates to have increased rates of discipline when compared to peers who have graduated from higher ranked medical schools. This study examines the effects of undergoing foreign medical training as opposed to domestic medical training and receiving medical school instruction in the English language or another language, on the frequency and severity of disciplinary action taken by the Florida Board of Medicine against medical doctors licensed in Florida since 1952 (N = 39,559). Also examined are the effects of attending domestic medical schools that are ranked lower than other domestic medical schools on the frequency and severity of disciplinary action taken by the Florida Board of Medicine against medical doctors licensed in Florida since 1952 (n = 25,479). Control variables used in this logistic regression analysis include whether the medical doctor is specialty board certified or not, the specialty practiced and the medical doctor's race and gender. Archival data from the Florida Department of Health were used for this study. This study found that the graduates of medical schools where the instruction is not in the English language are more likely to receive discipline and are more likely to receive more severe types of discipline than graduates of medical schools where the instruction is in the English language. It was also found that medical doctors who are ABMS certified, are practicing either a surgical specialty, obstetrics, gynecology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, family medicine or diagnostic radiology, or are male have increased odds of being disciplined by the Florida Board of Medicine.

This is a study of Dr. William Cullen (1710-1790), the Scottish chemist, physician, and professor of medicine, who played a significant role in the Scottish Enlightenment. I argue that Cullen was both a more unorthodox figure in Scottish medicine than he is generally depicted, as well as a more ambitious one. Despite his controversial doctrines, he skillfully managed the hierarchy of his profession and reached the pinnacle of success as a learned physician in the Scottish Enlightenment. I explore Cullen’s life and thought from different angles. I explicate his pedagogical persona and philosophy of medicine, both of which shaped the experiences of his pupils. I show how his neurophysiology was rooted in his contentious interpretation of the nature of the nervous fluid. And I provide a detailed look at Cullen’s understanding of hygiene, or the art of health—a rarely-studied component of his practice of medicine.

Em 1964, ao menos três IPMs foram instaurados em unidades da Universidade de São Paulo, com o objetivo de apurar atividades subversivas. O único deles a ter efeitos jurídicos no âmbito do Ato Institucional de 9 de abril de 1964 foi o IPM da Faculdade de Medicina, com base no qual o governador demitiu sete professores de vários departamentos (Erney Camargo, Luiz Hildebrando Pereira da Silva, Thomas Maack, Luiz Rey, Pedro Henrique Saldanha, Julio Pudles, Reynaldo Chiaverini). O trabalho pretende mostrar a contribuição da doutrina da Guerra Revolucionária, adotada pelos oficiais superiores das Forças Armadas, para a instauração de IPMs e seu papel no conflito de correntes internas a essas mesmas Forças Armadas, que se manifestou com intensidade nos primeiros meses do governo Castelo Branco. Em particular, o IPM da Medicina demonstra a convergência entre o impulso geral proveniente da doutrina da Guerra Revolucionária e interesses dos que detinham o poder de administrar a Universidade de São Paulo buscando evitar mudanças. / In 1964 at least three Military Police Investigations (IPM in the Portuguese language acronym) were launched in schools of the University of São Paulo, with the stated objective of assessing and curtailing subversive activities. Only one of these had juridical effects, derived from the Institutional Act of April 9, 1964, which was the IPM on the Medical School. Based on it, the State Governor fired seven professors from several departments (Erney Camargo, Luiz Hildebrando Pereira da Silva, Thomas Maack, Luiz Rey, Pedro Henrique Saldanha, Julio Pudles, Reynaldo Chiaverini). This work aims at demonstrating the contribution of the Revolutionary War doctrine, which was at the time adopted by the Brazilian military, for the conduction of the IPM investigation, as well as its role in internal dissensions existing in the Brazilian Armed Forces which manifested itself intensely during the first months of the Castelo Branco government. Particularly, the Medical School IPM can be seen as demonstrating convergence between the momentum given by the Revolutionary War doctrine to the investigation, and the special interests of those who had the power and authority to manage the University of São Paulo with the objective of precluding change.

Erratum pasted onto front end paper. / Bibliography: leaves 248-260. / xii, 260, 9 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Examines the establishment and early history of the Adelaide medical school, which was influenced by reforms of medical education in Great Britain. Finds that the content of the Adelaide medical course conformed with British standards, and gave adequate teaching by the standards of the day. Undergraduate teaching and postgraduate opportunities can be seen as Anglo-Australian synergies made possible by formal and informal linkages with the British empire in its last century. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Depts. of Surgery and History, 2000

This thesis investigates the development of medical research at the Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand under Sir Charles Hercus, Dean from 1937-1958. It also explores his interest and participation in research from his student days and the years before becoming Dean, as well as the influence of the First World War on his career. The study draws upon unpublished material in New Zealand archives and a collection of student projects investigating public health issues. Hercus, as Professor of Public Health and Bacteriology incorporated these projects into the curriculum in the early 1920s. The thesis uses many original papers published in scientific and medical journals by Hercus and his colleagues at the School. Building on a base of archival material including contemporary newspaper accounts, which have lately become available on the Papers Past website, this thesis draws together the individual disease studies undertaken by other thesis writers to give an account of Hercus’s achievements in fostering medical research. A key finding of this thesis is that Hercus was instrumental in building up the research capability of the School. He accomplished this through his own investigations and by helping to establish the New Zealand Medical Research Council. The thesis illustrates the multitude of studies that Hercus undertook personally or facilitated others to pursue, beyond the elimination of endemic goitre, for which he perhaps is best known. Another outcome of this study is an understanding of the difficult path that scientists faced in the early years of the twentieth century in New Zealand if they wished to carry out research. This thesis follows the origins of the Department of Scientific Research in the 1920s and the frequent collaboration Hercus made with scientists outside of the School. It will also demonstrate Hercus’s compassion and foresight in employing several Jewish refugee doctors as researchers at the School, who brought expertise into the research programmes. The era was one of great interest in improving the health and wellbeing of a generation affected by wars and deprivation caused by them. A key finding of this thesis is that researchers at the School took steps to mitigate these through making New Zealand more self-sufficient in foodstuffs and to improve the national diet. As well, Hercus lobbied for the establishment of a School of Physical Education within the university to improve the physical fitness of the population.

Admission to medical school is key to addressing medically underserved communities because over 90% of medical students graduate and become physicians. Yet, members of populations most likely to serve medically underserved communities as physicians remain chronically underrepresented in medical education despite initiatives aimed at increasing their representation among medical students. Meanwhile, traditional determinants of medical school admission fail to fully predict success in medical school, but have a disparate impact on applicants from underrepresented populations. Other determinants are underexplored, especially undergraduate institutional prestige. This study used a quantitative case study approach to examine the relationship between undergraduate institutional prestige, admission to medical school, and potential to serve medically underserved communities via specialty. Using a synthesis of the frameworks of symbolic capital, the iron triangle, and manifest and latent functions as a lens, this study analyzes (1) the relative impact of undergraduate institutional prestige on predicting admission to medical school holding constant the effect of traditional determinants of admission to medical school (i.e., MCAT, GPA), (2) how undergraduate institutional prestige varies by admissions stage, and (3) the relationship between undergraduate institutional prestige and specialty. Overall, findings show that undergraduate institutional prestige is important throughout the medical school admissions process; yet, undergraduate institutional prestige is not related to specialty. Nonetheless, findings imply preferences for applicants from more prestige undergraduate institutions may be contradictory to fulfilling organizational missions concerned with addressing healthcare disparities.

As with many other disciplines, the study of medicine is being influenced by the change in the cultural make-up of our country. On occasion, conflicts may develop between the personal beliefs of medical students and the training they must undertake in order to become competent and caring physicians. What are the implications for medical school training in terms of the increasing diversity of the individuals applying to, and being accepted into, medical schools across this country? How much should we allow the personal beliefs and values of physicians-in-training to modify the medical education experience as it currently exists? Do we need to accommodate these individual student differences (religious and cultural) when designing and modifying the medical school curriculum? This thesis looks at the requirement for accommodation (as established in human rights legislation) and the rights of individuals entering into medical school training (as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) and attempts to balance these individual rights against the goal of a medical school to develop a generic physician who is prepared, at completion of medical school training, to enter into many different post-graduate training programs. Medical school training involves a number of different types of learning including: knowledge acquisition, procedural competence, and the ability to interact in an intimate, yet wholly professional, manner with complete strangers. Current accreditation requirements demand that each medical student achieves a requisite level of knowledge, and the ability to perform certain physical examinations and associated procedures, by the completion of medical school training. Three distinct examples of possible requests for accommodation are examined during this thesis in order to determine if, and when, accommodation is reasonable and achievable. Although it is possible to allow some degree of modification of the medical school training process in order to accommodate religious or cultural beliefs of particular students, this accommodation is currently not possible if bona fide educational requirements are undermined during this accommodation or if accommodation of students would require undue hardship on the part of the particular medical school, staff or other students involved in the training process. Creating a standard process whereby students can request a modification of their involvement in the medical school curriculum (in order to accommodate religious or cultural differences) will facilitate unbiased and reasonable decision-making. This will allow students and faculty to have reasonable expectations about the ability of each individual to be successfully integrated into the medical school training program. It would also be useful and responsible to make it clear to students applying to be admitted to medical school where the limits are with respect to what degree of modification of medical school training is possible. The knowledge and clinical abilities that a student will be expected to master, within a Canadian medical school curriculum, must be consistent with the expectation of non-discrimination, as identified by provincial and national human rights legislation, and with the rights and freedoms as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Erratum pasted onto front end paper. / Bibliography: leaves 248-260. / xii, 260, 9 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Examines the establishment and early history of the Adelaide medical school, which was influenced by reforms of medical education in Great Britain. Finds that the content of the Adelaide medical course conformed with British standards, and gave adequate teaching by the standards of the day. Undergraduate teaching and postgraduate opportunities can be seen as Anglo-Australian synergies made possible by formal and informal linkages with the British empire in its last century. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Depts. of Surgery and History, 2000