Preclinical Medical Students’ Achievement to Learning Outcomes in Special Tracts of Rural Doctors
Porntip Nimkuntod MD*, Pattama Tongdee MD**
Affiliation : * School of Internal Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand ** School of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute of Medicine, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Background : Preclinical medical students are introduced to application of knowledge in communication skills, and clinical
examination in third year of the curriculum including gaining clinical experiences without difference in learning environment
and faculty administration to achieving personal and professional success.
Objective : To assess perception of medical students and the learning gap between One District One Doctor (ODOD) and
Collaborative Project to Increase Production of Rural Doctors (CPIRD) when a special tract is used for rural doctors to
achieve learning outcomes and management of the Institute of Medicine to study medicine including academic curriculum,
environmental, and social factors.
Material and Method: A cross-sectional study of third years students of ODOD and CPIRD groups were recruited for this
study. Self-administered questionnaire in domain of learning outcomes, motivation, and self-confidence including faculty
administration were given to all the participants to assess and analyze the perception of preclinical students. t-test and
bivariate analysis were used to evaluate the results.
Results : Thirty-six CPIRD (60%) and 24 ODOD (40%) participants completed the questionnaire. The CPIRD medical
students’ perceptions were higher in learning outcomes when compared with ODOD in all domains of cognitive, interpersonal
skill, professionalism, and ethic aspect but not statistically significant. Grades before admission were different in special
tracts of rural doctors; CPIRD medical students had higher examination scores before admission (63.73+3.37 vs. 56.76+5.22,
p<0.05) compared with ODOD group. However, there was no difference in Grade point average (GPA)between the two
groups (3.32+0.35 vs. 3.23+0.29, p = 0.33) after finishing in preclinical year. There was no difference between the two
groups of medical students in perception in faculty administration including teacher preparation, learning environment, and
social environment.
Conclusion : No learning gap in learning outcomes, learning environment, and faculty administration between two groups of
special tracts of rural doctors after finishing preclinical medical year even when the examination score before admission were
different in both groups. After studying in the same learning environment, there was no difference of all learning outcomes and
GPA in third year of preclinical medical students.
Keywords : Learning Outcome, Rural doctors
