Three generations academic trajectories from a public medical school during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The academic trajectory of a group of students from entry to graduation is known as their academic journey. To predict terminal efficiency and identify students at risk, indicators are used. However, various contextual factors may affect this trajectory.

Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the academic trajectories of three batches of medical students from a public university.

Method: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional, non-experimental study that used convenience sampling to obtain academic information from students in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 cohorts. Descriptive statistics were used to obtain indices of academic performance, non-accreditation, abandonment, promotion, and curricular time. Additionally, a simple linear regression study was conducted to predict the terminal efficiency at curricular time variable.

Results: A total of 3753 students were studied, with 1245, 1265, and 1243 belonging to the 2016, 2017, and 2018 cohorts, respectively. Of these, 66% were women and 34% were men. The overall academic performance, measured on a scale from 0 to 10, was 8.6, 8.7, and 8.9. The non-accreditation rate for the 2016 cohort was 16%, while the promotion rate was 64%, higher than in the 2017 and 2018 cohorts. The three cohorts had dropout rates of 36%, 56%, and 54%, respectively. In the 2016 cohort, 64% of students achieved 100% credits, while in 2017 and 2018, 44% and 46% of students achieved 100% credits, respectively. Academic performance and promotion predicted terminal efficiency at curricular time with an adjusted R squared greater than 0.75, which explained more than 75% of the variance (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: academic performance increased during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, as reported in other health sciences degrees. This may be due to the difficulties in evaluating basic cycles and clinical competence. The pandemic context may have contributed to the increase in the dropout rate by affecting economic, labor, health, and emotional aspects. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, it is necessary to design qualitative or mixed studies.