abstracts and bios cover_final.indd - LIME Network

Overview of admission methods for medicine and early experience with recruitmentand retention in a new schoolProfessor Neville Yeomans 1 , Ms Cris Carriage 21. Former Dean, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney2. Indigenous Program Officer, School of Medicine, University of Western SydneyAbstractA range of methods for determining offers to medical places is used around Australia. All use school orundergraduate academic results as a key component of their admissions formulae, although many now usethis just as an initial threshold to be reached before other methods are applied. Those other tools may includeaptitude tests, interviews of two main types, and portfolios provided by applicants. All Australian schoolsmake adjustments to their processes to offer places to students of Indigenous and/or rural background. Thepresentation will discuss these various approaches.About ten applications have been received each year, processed case-by-case, using academic record,Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test (UMAT) results when available, and a Multi-Mini-Interview. Indigenous applicants also have a personal interview with a panel including two Indigenousinterviewers.The prior academic records of most of the 14 applicants enrolled thus far have generally been weaker,sometimes markedly, than for the other ~285 students (from ~7500 applicants) admitted to Commonwealthsupportedplaces. The panel tries to allow for disadvantaged opportunity when judging likelihood to succeed,but this is an inexact science. In the 2007 cohort, 2 of 5 failed Year 1 and one withdrew, but all successfullyrepeated the year. Another passed but deferred and is also in Year 2. In the 2008 cohort, 3 of 4 passed (2 verywell) and 1 is repeating Year 1. From the 2009 cohort, one deferred after several weeks to solve a major familyproblem. Factors predicting difficulties or success will be discussed.Presenter: Professor Neville YeomansNeville is Foundation Dean (until October 2009) of the University of Western SydneyMedical School, and previously Foundation Professor of Medicine at Western Hospital,Melbourne and Associate Dean (Academic Programs), at The University of Melbourne.He is a gastroenterologist with research interests in the basic and clinical science ofgastric mucosal defence and peptic ulcer, and more recently medical education.30