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Open research questions in Medical Education and Admissions

65 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 990 Medical Education and Admissions papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • • Provide tailored training lecturers handling HEC programs to equip them with skills for teaching and mentoring diverse learners. for • Reform the curriculum to include more hands-on and applied learning that connects theory with real-world practice. • Strengthen institutional resources, including laboratories, learning materials, and digital infrastructure, to support effective teaching and learning.

    Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Student Challenges of Bridging Course Programs: A Comparison with Direct Entry Pathways · 2026 · DOI

  • This review, therefore, adds new insight by emphasising both the relative lack of evidence on practical classes and the inconsistent strength of the observed associations. , models that included additional explanatory variables beyond attendance), we found conflicting results regarding whether these models explained more variation in performance than attendance alone (Lyons et al.

    Impact of practical class attendance on performance in health professions education · 2026 · DOI

  • The observed phase-contingent resilience association is consistent with SDR theory’s demand-moderation mechanism but does not definitively establish this mechanism. Several alternative explanations warrant detailed consideration, all of which arise from the study’s cross-sectional design and indirect operationalization of demand through training phase. 4.7.1 Selection and survivor effects Students entering clinical training may differ systematically from those in preclinical years due to selective attrition. If less resilient students are more likely to struggle academically, experience burnout, or leave the program during preclinical years, the clinical cohort would represent a selected sample with higher baseline resilience or greater capacity to leverage psychological resources effectively.

    Phase-contingent resilience effects in multilingual medical students: a cross-sectional examination of student demands-resources theory · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of evidence-based best practices coupled with insufficient clarity for students has a real potential to disadvantage PhD students, particularly first generation, underrepresented minority, international and/or other trainees who are not privileged or socialized to navigate training environments with vague landmarks such as the qualifying exams.

    Standards needed? An exploration of qualifying exams from a literature review and website analysis of university-wide policies · 2023 · DOI

  • While the MUSIC® Inventory structure has been validated in the tertiary setting and with several professional programs, it has not been validated with medical students.

    MUSIC® for Medical Students: Confirming the Reliability and Validity of a Multi-Factorial Measure of Academic Motivation for Medical Education · 2020 · DOI

  • Over the decades, researchers have used a variety of reliability coefficients to estimate the reliability of undergraduate GPA, which suggests that there has been no consensus on the most appropriate model.

    Reliability Estimates for Undergraduate Grade Point Average · 2017 · DOI

  • As there is limited research in this area, we explored the relative strengths of academic aptitude, as measured by the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) and study strategies, as measured by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), in predicting academic performance in 106 students in the first semester of an integrated curriculum.

    Do study strategies predict academic performance in medical school? · 2011 · DOI

  • The limitations of this study lie in that although the sample size meets the statistical requirements, it is still relatively small, which may affect the applicability of the conclusions.

    The Effect of the Medical Education Environment on Medical Students’ Academic Performance Through the Serial Mediating Roles of Mental Health and Learning Engagement · 2026 · DOI

  • Strengthening collaboration between healthcare and education systems could be a key step in promoting equitable access to lifelong learning, and future research should explore long-term educational outcomes for hospitalized adolescents with cancer.

    The Importance of Learning Skills as Perceived by Adolescents in a Hospital School in Romania vs. Their Non-Hospitalized Peers · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the size and mechanism of this relationship remain unclear. There is limited evidence to determine whether attendance policies for practical classes positively or negatively impact academic performance.

    Impact of practical class attendance on performance in health professions education · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on refining prompts, improving model stability, integrating medical databases, and designing questions that better assess student competence and minimize guessing.

    Performance of ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 in the Taiwan National Pharmacist Licensing Examination: Comparative Evaluation Study · 2025 · DOI

  • Several studies have indicated the presence of a retention effect of admission testing in higher education, but so far little is known about the possible mechanisms behind such an effect.

    Admission testing, pre-academic exam self-efficacy, and retention. A prospective cohort study · 2024 · DOI

  • To date, the complex relationships between students’ ability to think critically and their age, sex, academic performance, major and prior experience taken all together have not been investigated.

    Critical thinking among pharmacy students: Do age, sex and academic variants matter? · 2022 · DOI

  • Insights: While the decision to make Step 1 pass/fail was in part intended to decrease stress associated with performance on a single high-stakes exam designed for licensing purposes, it has led to increased worries for students, and secondary, unanticipated consequences remain to be seen.

    Exploring Students’ Perspectives on Well-Being and the Change of United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 to Pass/Fail · 2021 · DOI

  • Results demonstrate pre-entry data is not necessarily a predictor of graduation outcomes, indicating further research into the variables which impact a student’s journey between admission and graduation is warranted.

    Pre-entry Selection Assessment Results and Final Degree Outcomes of Occupational Therapy Students: Are There Relationships? · 2020 · DOI

  • Evidence to support trusted assessments of pre-admission professional (non-cognitive) skills is lacking, with ambiguity surrounding relationships between pre-admission results and graduation data.

    Pre-entry Selection Assessment Results and Final Degree Outcomes of Occupational Therapy Students: Are There Relationships? · 2020 · DOI

  • Though number of studies has examined the predictive validity of standardized admission tests with respect to various health courses, there is a gap in literature with respect to business students.

    Relationship between admission grades and academic achievement · 2018 · DOI

  • Further discussions regarding factors important for training a diverse nursing workforce and effective ways to implement non-academic admission criteria are warranted.

    Examining the Importance of Admissions Criteria in Predicting Nursing Program Success · 2016 · DOI

  • To address this gap in the literature, this exploratory study suggests a conceptual model describing why minorities apply to medical school and the influences affecting their admissions experience.

    Underrepresented Minorities in Medical School Admissions: A Qualitative Study · 2016 · DOI

  • Prior cross-sectional studies highlight performance evaluation differences between introverted and extraverted medical students, though the mechanisms and implications of these differences remain relatively unexplained and understudied.

    Introversion and Medical Student Education: Challenges for Both Students and Educators · 2015 · DOI

  • However, there is little consensus regarding methods that reliably evaluate non-academic attributes, and longitudinal studies examining predictors of success after qualification are insufficient.

    How effective are selection methods in medical education? A systematic review · 2015 · DOI

  • The relationships among the scores of major subjects taught in the first preclinical year of a Thai medical school, previous academic achievements, and daily life activities are rarely explored.

    Exploratory study of factors related to educational scores of first preclinical year medical students · 2014 · DOI

  • Results from two studies suggested that some programme directors believe pass/fail grading creates disadvantages for students in attaining a residency, whereas a third study yielded mixed results about its impact on residency attainment.

    Impact of pass/fail grading on medical students’ well‐being and academic outcomes · 2011 · DOI

  • Furthermore, the influence of gender and relationship with religion on attitudes towards the doctor-patient relationship should be explored further, in order to eliminate disparities in the provision of patient-centred medical care.

    Medical students' attitudes toward patient‐centred care: a longitudinal survey · 2007 · DOI

  • We describe this reasoning process and show that with a large credentialing test the validity of any subscore interpretation or use can and should be studied systematically.

    The Validity of Subscores for a Credentialing Test · 2004 · DOI

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65 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 990 Medical Education and Admissions papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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