Selection of Medical Students and non-cognitive skills: A national, longitudinal written-test validation study

Background: Universities worldwide use entry tests to assess both the cognitive and ‘non-cognitive’ skills of undergraduate medical-school (UMS) applicants. In Italy, current UMS assessment procedures test applicants’ cognitive skills only. Summary of Work: The Italian Permanent Conference of Medical School Directors promoted research to validate written multi-factorial tests capable of identifying non-cognitive MS success predictors. The research involved six public Universities from the South, Centre and North of Italy. It was longitudinal in design, examining participants at different stages of their undergraduate careers. Summary of Results: The study group sought to measure: a) personality and self-efficacy; b) psychological well-being; c) motivational and vocational factors; d) socio-demographic variables. Self-Efficacy Scales, a short version of the Big Five Questionnaire, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, SCL-90-R and Positivity Scales were combined with other Motivational Scales. The questionnaire was administered to 882 Medical-School freshers during the current year. Discussion and Conclusions: Integrated pre-validated scales may act as predictors of the attitudes of future medical students, and allows the study of their profiles and assess them over the following six years, to identify vulnerability and strength factors for their professional development. The results, which compare changes in interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies during the students’ careers, may be useful when selecting non-cognitive constructs to be considered in national UMS tests. Take-home messages: This initiative aims at changing the ways medical school applicants are assessed and selected in order to identify those who will become the kind of physicians best suited to practice in a dynamic health-care environment.