Annotation #1

Research question:

Considering the requirements students face to become a heath care employee, how many students in bachelor medical programs in the state of Florida drop out of their original undergrad major?

Marie Caulfield. Geoffrey Redden. Henry Sondheimer, “Graduation Rates and Attrition Factors for U.S. Medical School Students.” Association of American Medical Colleges. Volume 14, Number 5 (May 2014)

In the article, “Graduation Rates and Attrition Factors…,” written by authors Marie Caulfield, Ph.D and manager of data operations and services; Geoffrey Redden, Senior database specialist; and Henry Sondheimer, M.D and Senior director of medical education projects. Caulfield, Redden, and Sondheimer brake evidence down into three segments, “Methods”, “Results”, and “Discussion”. The authors discuss the collection of data displaying graduation rates from medical students depending on their time in school. In their discussion they argue, “While the ultimate graduation rate for M.D.-only medical students remains very high, there is a clear trend over the past 30 years showing a drop in the four-year graduation rate for single degree medical students” (Page 2). The non- fulfillment of single degrees can come from a multitude of different issues, but for a student to become derailed from a degree path a conflict must occur. Further discussion states that, “… this trend reflects a perceived need for additional experiences for career success or competitiveness in the residency matching process or, alternatively, a generational shift in the view of the educational timeline” (Page 2). The authors are explaining there are a multitude of reasons a student may take a premature exit to a medical degree. This supports my research because it gives a look into this trend that is happening all over the nation. Allowing one to see that not only in Florida but across the nation students are prematurely exiting medical degrees due to setbacks such as graduation timeline, competitiveness, and additional licensing that may or may not seem feasible to the student.

Authors Caulfield, Redden, and Sondheimer go further in their discussions about what may be causing the dip in graduation rate of medical students. A key portion of the text is that they contrast earlier statements by zeroing in on a specific reason for graduation decline. The article states, “In contrast, students who take a leave of absence are at significantly higher risk of not completing medical school” (Page 2). The authors are stating that its been proven through data that students who take a break or miss segments of schooling “fall into a category with a one-in three chances of not graduating…” (Page 2).

This source follows along the same streamline idea that there has been an increase of dropout and or major changes in medical degrees all over the country. These authors use slightly different examples to portray there claims than other sources. The use of graphs and the compare/contrast of past and present statistics where relied heavily upon in this source. The article was very clear cut in what the authors wished to portray. On the other hand, more evidence on what factors contributed to the drop in graduation rates would have strengthened the article.

Marie Caulfield. Geoffrey Redden. Henry Sondheimer, “Graduation Rates and Attrition Factors for U.S. Medical School Students.” Association of American Medical Colleges. Volume 14, Number 5 (May 2014)(Page 1)(Page 2)

https://www.aamc.org/download/379220/data/may2014aib-graduationratesandattritionfactorsforusmedschools.pdf