Design verification test matrix development for the STME thrust chamber assembly

This report presents the results of the test matrix development for design verification at the component level for the National Launch System (NLS) space transportation main engine (STME) thrust chamber assembly (TCA) components including the following: injector, combustion chamber, and nozzle. A systematic approach was used in the development of the minimum recommended TCA matrix resulting in a minimum number of hardware units and a minimum number of hot fire tests

Main and Regional Campus Assessments of Applicants to a Rural Physician Leadership Program: A Generalizability Analysis

While the selection of qualified applicants often relies, in part, on scores generated from a medical school pre-admission interview (MSPI), the growth of regional medical campuses (RMCs) – many with specialized rural tracks, programs, or missions – has challenged schools to accommodate a wider range of stakeholder input. This study examines the reliabilities of main (urban) and regional (rural) campus interviewers’ assessments of applicants to a Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP) located in the southeastern United States. Data from RPLP applicants completing MSPIs on two campuses from 2009-2017 (n = 232) were examined in a generalizability analysis. In two separate interviews on each campus (4 total), raters independently evaluated applicants’ overall acceptability and likelihood of practicing in a rural area of the state. Results provided campus-specific and combined (composite) estimates of obtained and projected reliabilities. The person-by-campus interaction accounted for 11% and 5% of the respective variance in interviewers’ ratings of overall applicant acceptability and likelihood of rural in-state practice, and the reliability of mean scores across the four independent interviews (each with a single, unique rater) was 0.73 and 0.82. Error variances were higher among main campus interviewers, but scores correlated highly between the two campuses. While broadening the universe of generalization often results in decreased reliability, reliability was shown to be enhanced with the addition of regional (rural) campus interviews. As the RPLP matures, an examination of graduates’ actual practice locations should yield insights into the predictive validity of these pre-admissions assessments. More generally, research may wish to explore the conditions under which increasing the diversity of stakeholder input can be accommodated without concomitant reductions in overall reliability

University of Kentucky Rural Physician Leadership Program: A Programmatic Review

This article describes the characteristics and results of the Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP) at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. RPLP is a successful example of a regional medical campus designed to train physicians at a regional medical campus to serve rural areas through local partnerships

Applicant Selection to a Regional Medical Training Program: A Structural Analysis of Interviewer Assessments

Introduction: For regional campuses with specific program foci, assessing applicant fit necessarily extends beyond academic and professional factors. Based on assessments of applicants to a regional Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP), this study explores the relationship of academic and socio-demographic factors with interviewers’ ratings of: (1) likelihood of eventually practicing in a rural area of the state; and (2) overall acceptability to medical school. Methods: The study population consisted of 163 first-time RPLP applicants interviewed independently from 2009-2016 by two faculty members at both main and regional medical campuses. Path analysis was used to calculate direct, indirect, and total effects of applicants’ socio-demographic and academic characteristics on interviewers’ composite ratings. This study protocol (#17-0198-X3B) was approved as exempt by the governing Institutional Review Board; the authors report no conflicts of interest. Results: The combined influence of being an in-state resident with rural Appalachian origins, combined with undergraduate GPA, explained 40.7% of the variance in applicants’ predicted likelihood of practicing in rural Kentucky. In terms of applicant acceptability, the strongest direct effects were exerted by academic factors, GPA and total MCAT score, and the sole preceding endogenous variable: likelihood of rural in-state practice. However, two other background factors were modestly but significantly directly associated with overall acceptability: (1) age; and (2) residence. Specifying likelihood of rural practice as an intervening variable explained 42.5% of the variance in applicant acceptability and provided a good fit to the sample data (X2 = 3.19, df = 4, p = .526, CFI = 1.000, RLI = 1.018, RMSEA = .000). Conclusions: Interviewers appear to be assessing programmatic, mission-specific “fit” within the broader context of applicants’ abilities to navigate a demanding professional training curriculum. Future research should examine graduates’ eventual practice locations and intermediate academic performance as empirical validity of faculty interviewers’ assessments. Similarly, pre-professional pipeline efforts should better coordinate with training programs to provide consistent opportunities to nurture interest in mission-specific outcomes

Discerning Applicants\u27 Interests in Rural Medicine: A Textual Analysis of Admission Essays

BACKGROUND: Despite efforts to construct targeted medical school admission processes using applicant-level correlates of future practice location, accurately gauging applicants\u27 interests in rural medicine remains an imperfect science. This study explores the usefulness of textual analysis to identify rural-oriented themes and values underlying applicants\u27 open-ended responses to admission essays. METHODS: The study population consisted of 75 applicants to the Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP) at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Using WordStat, a proprietary text analysis program, applicants\u27 American Medical College Application Service personal statement and an admission essay written at the time of interview were searched for predefined keywords and phrases reflecting rural medical values. From these text searches, derived scores were then examined relative to interviewers\u27 subjective ratings of applicants\u27 overall acceptability for admission to the RPLP program and likelihood of practicing in a rural area. RESULTS: The two interviewer-assigned ratings of likelihood of rural practice and overall acceptability were significantly related. A statistically significant relationship was also found between the rural medical values scores and estimated likelihood of rural practice. However, there was no association between rural medical values scores and subjective ratings of applicant acceptability. CONCLUSIONS: That applicants\u27 rural values in admission essays were not related to interviewers\u27 overall acceptability ratings indicates that other factors played a role in the interviewers\u27 assessments of applicants\u27 acceptability for admission

A holistic review of the medical school admission process: examining correlates of academic underperformance

Background: Despite medical school admission committees’ best efforts, a handful of seemingly capable students invariably struggle during their first year of study. Yet, even as entrance criteria continue to broaden beyond cognitive qualifications, attention inevitably reverts back to such factors when seeking to understand these phenomena. Using a host of applicant, admission, and post-admission variables, the purpose of this inductive study, then, was to identify a constellation of student characteristics that, taken collectively, would be predictive of students at-risk of underperforming during the first year of medical school. In it, we hypothesize that a wider range of factors than previously recognized could conceivably play roles in understanding why students experience academic problems early in the medical educational continuum. Methods: The study sample consisted of the five most recent matriculant cohorts from a large, southeastern medical school (n=537). Independent variables reflected: 1) the personal demographics of applicants (e.g., age, gender); 2) academic criteria (e.g., undergraduate grade point averages [GPA], medical college admission test); 3) selection processes (e.g., entrance track, interview scores, committee votes); and 4) other indicators of personality and professionalism (e.g., Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test™ emotional intelligence scores, NEO PI-R™ personality profiles, and appearances before the Professional Code Committee [PCC]). The dependent variable, first-year underperformance, was defined as ANY action (repeat, conditionally advance, or dismiss) by the college's Student Progress and Promotions Committee (SPPC) in response to predefined academic criteria. This study protocol was approved by the local medical institutional review board (IRB). Results: Of the 537 students comprising the study sample, 61 (11.4%) met the specified criterion for academic underperformance. Significantly increased academic risks were identified among students who 1) had lower mean undergraduate science GPAs (OR=0.24, p=0.001); 2) entered medical school via an accelerated BS/MD track (OR=16.15, p=0.002); 3) were 31 years of age or older (OR=14.76, p=0.005); and 4) were non-unanimous admission committee admits (OR=0.53, p=0.042). Two dimensions of the NEO PI-R™ personality inventory, openness (+) and conscientiousness (−), were modestly but significantly correlated with academic underperformance. Only for the latter, however, were mean scores found to differ significantly between academic performers and underperformers. Finally, appearing before the college's PCC (OR=4.21, p=0.056) fell just short of statistical significance. Conclusions: Our review of various correlates across the matriculation process highlights the heterogeneity of factors underlying students’ underperformance during the first year of medical school and challenges medical educators to understand the complexity of predicting who, among admitted matriculants, may be at future academic risk

Medical student interest in academic medical careers: a multi-institutional study

Little is known about how medical students view academic medicine. This multi-institutional study explored student perceptions of this career path. During 2009–2010, third- and fourth-year students at three United States medical schools completed a 30-item online survey. In total, 239 students completed the questionnaire (37 % response rate). Significant predictors of students’ desires for academic medical careers included interest in teaching (γ = 0.74), research (γ = 0.53), interprofessional practice (γ = 0.34), administration (γ = 0.27), and community service opportunities (γ = 0.16). A positive correlation existed between accumulated debt and interest in academic medicine (γ = 0.20). Student descriptions of the least and most appealing aspects of academic medicine were classified into five categories: professional, research, personal, teaching and mentoring, and patients/patient care. Students are more likely to be interested in a career in academic medicine if they have participated in research or were influenced by a mentor. Factors that may also influence a medical student’s decision to pursue a career in academic medicine include age and debt accumulated prior to medical school. Professional aspects of academic medicine (cutting edge environment, resources) and the opportunity to teach were the most appealing aspects

Implementing a Requirement for Computer Ownership: One Medical School's Experience

: The need for training physicians in the use of computers and the increased presence of computing in medical education suggest that medical schools should determine what kind of computer accessibility and support should be offered to students so that they can acquire sufficient computer skills and use computing applications in the curriculum. At the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, a requirement for ownership of computers by students was adopted in 1995. On the basis our experience, this paper discusses the assessment of institutional readiness for such a requirement, the technical and support issues related to such a requirement, the development of computer applications in the curriculum, and a framework used to evaluate the impact of such a requirement. Recommendations for other institutions interested in adopting a requirement for computer ownership by students are included. In recognition of the increased relevance of computers to medical practice, the panels ..