Twelve tips for medical students experiencing an interruption in their academic progress

Abstract

For every commencing cohort of medical students, a small but significant number will experience an interruption to their academic progression because of academic difficulties, health concerns or external influences outside of the students’ control. During the process of researching the factors surrounding difficulties with academic progression, students told us many ways that they have learned from that experience, which then allowed most of them to graduate. This paper combines the shared experiences of students who have had an interruption, and those of the authors as medical educators.

Keywords:

• Study skills
• general
• student support
• undergraduate
• medicine

Acknowledgements

Deborah Balmer from the University of Auckland is acknowledged for dedicated contribution to the the data collection as part of the Narratives of Progression study. We acknowledge the generous and brave approach of our research participants.

Author contributions

SC drafted the paper with AW, BC, DC, AC, BD, ML and TW contributing to each draft. All authors collaborated on the generation of the twelve tips from previous collaborative research.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by UMAT ANZ Consortium of universities in Australia and New Zealand.

Notes on contributors

Sandra E. Carr

Sandra E. Carr, BSc, MPH, PhD, SFHEA, is Head, Discipline of Health Professions Education at The University of Western Australia.

Ben J. Canny

Ben J. Canny, MBBS, PhD, is an experienced medical educator, formerly Deputy Dean, Monash University and Dean, University of Tasmania.

Andy Wearn

Andy Wearn, MBChB, MMedSc, is Head of programme, MBChB, The University of Auckland.

Dianne Carmody

Dianne Carmody, MPH, is a Research Fellow, Health Professions Education at The University of Western Australia.

Antonio Celenza

Antonio Celenza, MBBS, MClinED, is an experienced medical educator, formerly MD Course Director and Head of Medical Education, The University of Western Australia.

Basia Diug

Basia Diug, BBioMedSci (Hons), PhD, GCAP, PFHEA, is Head, Undergraduate Courses at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University.

Michelle Leech

Professor Michelle Leech, MBBS (Hons), FRACP, PhD, is Deputy Dean Faculty Medicine Nursing And Health Sciences and Head of the Medical Course, Monash University.

Tim J. Wilkinson

Tim J. Wilkinson, MBChB, PhD, MD, is Head of programme, MBChB, The University of Otago.