RESUME HE 028 462 Arnold , Louise ; And Others Professional and Personal Characteristics of Graduates as Outcomes of Combined

A multi-institutional database has been established to characterize selected aspects of the professional and personal lives of physicians 5 to 10 years after graduation from combined baccalaureate-M.D. degree (CD) programs. The purpose of this study is to explore whether these graduates' attitudes toward their education, their practice patterns, their accomplishments, and their professional and personal values vary according to the type of program they attended. This study examined the professional and personal characteristics of 799 physicians who had graduated from combined baccalaureate-M.D. degree (CD) programs between 1983-1987. The study found that graduates from 6-year programs indicated that they were better prepared for their medical careers, overall, than did graduates from longer programs. Graduates of 7and 8-year program: spent more time teaching than did their 6-year counterparts, and graduates of 6-year programs were much more likely to be in clinical settings in the private practice of medicine than graduates from the longer programs. The study also found that 6-year graduates had higher mean scores for their accomplishments in professional and community service, whereas 7and 8-year graduates achieved higher mean scores for accomplishments in scholarly activities. Overall, the study found relatively few differences in graduates' professional and personal characteristics based on the type of CD program they attended. (Contains 16 references and 12 tables.) (MDM) *********************************************************************** , Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. *********************************************************************** Professional and Personal Characteristics of Graduates as Outcomes of Combined Baccalaureate-MD Degree Programs The Research Consortium of Baccalaureate-MD Degree Programs* Annual Meeting American Educational Research Association April, 1995 U.S. °EPA/KS/SENT OF EDUCATION °Moe of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI t.'1./i's document has Peen reproduced as reCeIVOCI from the person Or ONtemZet$0n onginatillg C Minor changes have been made to ',nom.* 'OWN:10010n thiehly points of new or optmons stated on Mrs 00Cu meht do not necessarily recueseni offrc,a1 OE RI cdarhon or POSCy 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Louise Arnold TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." *The investigators for the consortium were: Louise Arnold, Ph.D. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Gang Xu, Ph.D., Jefferson Medical College; Lynn C. Epstein, M.D., Brown University School of Medicine; and Bonnie Jones, Ph.D., Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. Corresponding author is Dr. Arnold at the UMKC School of Medicine, 2411 Holmes, Kansas City, MO 64108. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Objectives A multi-institutional database has been established to characterize selected aspects of the professional and personal lives of physicians five to ten years after graduation from combined baccalaureate--M.D. degree (CD) programs. The purpose of this study is to explore whether these graduates' attitudes toward their education, their practice patterns, their accomplishments, and their professional and personal values vary according to the type of program they attended. Perspective The need for outcome measures in the assessment of educational program effectiveness has been cogently argued.1 A special case has been lodged for outcome studies of innovative medical curricula as whole entities through the examination of a range of qualities, skills, and behaviors of graduates of alternative programs.2 The hypothesis has been advanced that graduates of these innovative curricula may differ in some respects (such as interpersonal skills) from graduates of traditional schools although in other respects (such as preparedness for practice) they may be quite similar to their traditional counterparts.2 Differences in graduates may reflect distinctive institutional cultures and organizational arrangements of the educational experience2 as well as enrollment of distinctive types of students.3 Using a variant of the above perspective, this study describes graduates' professional and personal characteristics as outcomes of CD programs. These programs represent an innovative alternate pathway to the M.D. degree. However, before a comparison can be appropriately made between characteristics of graduates from CD and traditional programs, an examination of the variations and similarities in characteristics of graduates from different types of CD programs must be undertaken. CD programs are not identical in curricular design.4 Some are six-year programs; others are seven or even eight years in length. Some of these programs attempt to offer students a relatively seamless educational experience by integrating the liberal arts and/or clinical medicine