MEDICAL SCHOOLS OUTCOMES DATABASE NATIONAL DATA REPORT 2016

Transcription

1 MEDICAL SCHOOLS OUTCOMES DATABASE NATIONAL DATA REPORT 2016 Report produced by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand Inc. with MSOD data from 2011 to 2015 graduating medical students The MSOD and Data Linkage Project is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Health This report was prepared with the assistance of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Report published by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand Inc. September 2016 Level 3, 261 George Street, Sydney, NSW

2 Table of Contents Table 1. of respondents by School of completion and year 2011 to Table 2. of respondents by Age group and year 2011 to Table 3. Median age and age range of respondents by year 2011 to Table 4. Country of birth by year for top 10 countries in Table 5. Partner status by year 2011 to Table 6. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year 2011 to Graph 1a. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year 2011 to Graph 1b. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year 2011 to Table 7. Sources of income for education and/or living expenses for entire degree for graduates... 9 Table 8a. Career intention: first preference of state of future practice by year Table 8b. of respondents by state of completion and year 2011 to Table 9. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year Graph 2a. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year Graph 2b. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year Table 10. Preferred country of future practice by year Table 11. First preference area of future practice by year... 14, 15 Table 12. Interest in teaching by year Table 13. Interest in research by year Table 14. Interest in Indigenous health as part of future medical career by year 2014 to Table 15. Internship acceptance state by year Table 16. Overall level of Satisfaction with the Medical program at their university Table 17a. Highest level previous degree by year 2011 to 2015 (based on data collected at commencement). 18 Table 17b. Highest level previous degree by year 2015 (based on data collected at graduation) Table 18a. Discipline of highest previous degree by year 2011 to 2015 (based on data collected at commencement) Table 18b. Discipline of highest previous degree by year 2015 (based on data collected at graduation)r Table 19. Level of influence of perceived financial prospects on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year Table 20. Level of influence of financial costs of medical school education/debt on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year Table 21. Level of influence of number of years required to complete training on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year... 23

3 Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) MSOD Project Background The Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) is a project of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand which collects demographic, education and career intentions data on medical students. The information is obtained via an annual questionnaire which is issued to final-year medical students prior to their graduation. In the past the project has also involved surveys of commencing and postgraduate students. However since 2014 it has consisted of a single survey of final year students. The dataset is stored and managed by AIHW on behalf of Medical Deans. A great deal has been achieved in the decade of implementation of the MSOD. The MSOD dataset contains well over 30,000 participants. It is now an established national resource that generates significant research outputs, provides an effective evaluation mechanism for assessing outcomes of medical education programs and is an up-to-date data source with essential information for national workforce planning and policy makers. Medical Deans wishes to enhance the existing MSOD dataset as a workforce planning tool by linking it with other health workforce datasets in order to provide longitudinal data. This is the aim of the MSOD and Data Linkage Project which has been provided with initial funding for two years by the Commonwealth Department of Health. The Data Linkage Project is overseen by a steering committee with Medical Deans, AHPRA, AIHW and the Department of Health. Data linkage will mean better utilisation of the MSOD to investigate important policy and research issues. This report details the responses that have been captured by the annual Medical Students Workforce Survey (MSWS) in the period from 2011 to The survey has captured the details (demographics, career intentions, rurality, course satisfaction, etc) of graduating medical students from all 19 medical schools across Australia. 3

4 Table 1. of respondents by School of completion and year, 2011 to 2015 School of completion Australian National University Bond University Deakin University Flinders University Griffith University James Cook University Monash University The University of Adelaide The University of Melbourne The University of Newcastle / University of New England The University of New South Wales The University of Notre Dame (Fremantle) The University of Notre Dame (Sydney) The University of Queensland The University of Sydney University of Tasmania The University of Western Australia University of Western Sydney University of Wollongong Total 2, , , , , The decrease in numbers in 2015 may be attributable to the change to a solely online survey 4

5 Respondents By Age Group The majority of graduates were 29 years or younger, with those aged between 25 and 29 making up approximately 45% and those aged under 25 approximately 40% from each graduating year (Table 2). Those students aged 45 years old on graduation comprised less than 1% of each annual cohort. The median graduating age of all years was 25, with the largest age range (youngest being 18 years old, oldest being 63) coming from the 2014 cohort (Table 3). Table 2. of respondents by Age group and year, 2011 to 2015 Age <25 1, , , , , , , , Total 2, , , , , Table 3. Median age and age range of respondents by year, 2011 to 2015 Age Median minimum maximum Respondents By Country of Birth In terms of Country of birth (Table 4), Australia remains the largest with well over 60% of all graduating respondents being born here. In 2015 this figure hit a five year high of 64%. Aside from Australia, the next five largest contributing countries of birth are Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and China. In the majority of cases, there have been only slight fluctuations of the proportions of birth country for graduating medical students from year to year, although it is worth noting that Canada increased from 2.2% in 2013 to 4.4% in 2015, whereas Malaysia saw a drop from 5.2% in 2014 to 3.4% in

6 Table 4. Country of birth by year for top 10 countries in 2015, from 2011 to 2015 Birth Country Australia 1, , , , , Canada Singapore Malaysia New Zealand China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) England India United States of America Hong Kong (SAR of China) Other Total 2, , , , , Relationship Status Regarding relationship status (Table 5), the number of graduates who declared themselves as partnered has increased significantly over the five year period from 40.8% in 2011 to 49% in This trend towards partnered has increased year on year and if the trend continues then partnered medical school graduates will soon become the majority. Table 5. Partner status by year, 2011 to 2015 Marital status Not partnered 1, , , , , Partnered 1, , , , Total 2, , , , , Due to a change in the order of possible responses on the form, a number of respondents from 2013 onwards chose 'In a relationship but not living with partner' when previously they may have chosen 'single'. 6

7 Rurality For 2015, 68.9% of graduating domestic students reported living in capital cities (Table 6). This is more in-line with figures reported in 2010 to In 2014 this figure experienced a significant and proportional increase and hit a high of 75.8%. The statistical raw numbers are illustrated graphically in Graph 1a and proportionally in Graph 1b, which highlights the high Capital City/Urban figures for Table 6. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year, 2011 to 2015 Main location rurality* Capital city 1, , , , , Major urban re Regional city or large town Smaller town Small community Total 1, , , , , Prior to 2014 this question was asked at commencement, hence the data have been matched to End year, resulting in more missing data for earlier years Major urban re (>100,000 population size) e.g. Cairns, Geelong, Gold Coast Tweed Heads, Gosford, Newcastle, Townsville, Wollongong, Wyong Regional city or large town (25,000-99,999 population size) e.g. Alice Springs, Ballarat, Bunbury, Dubbo, Launceston, Mount Gambier Smaller town (10,000 24,999 population size) Small community (<10,000 population size) 7

8 Graph 1a. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year, 2011 to Small community Smaller tow n Regional city or large tow n Major urban re Capital city Graph 1b. Rurality of main location for domestic students when living in Australia for more than one year by year, 2011 to Cent Small community Smaller tow n Regional city or large tow n Major urban re Capital city

9 Sources of Income From 2013, graduates were asked about their sources of income for education and living expenses over the entire course of their medical degrees. It s clear that students need several funding sources when embarking on their medical education and over the last three years the top three reported income streams (Family, Government and Paid Employment) have not altered with similar perages being seen on an annual basis. Table 7 illustrates the figures for all reported income sources. Table 7. Sources of income for education and/or living expenses for entire degree for graduates, 2013 to 2015 Income sources Government 1, % 1, % 1, % Family 1, % 1, % 1, % Paid employment 1, % 1, % 1, % Scholarship % % % HECS/FEE/OS HELP loan 1, % 1, % % Savings/Trust fund % % % sonal Loan % % % Other % Question first asked in 2013 and participants can pick more than one option. Option for 'Other' not included from Career Intentions Together, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have consistently combined to make up more than 75% of all first preference of state choices. Those graduates who indicate having a first state of preference other than Australia remained steady at approximately 5%. The results can be analysed with respondent state of study (Table 8b) and actual intern acceptance by state (Table 14) for comparative purposes. 9

10 Table 8a. Career intention: first preference of state of future practice by year, 2011 to 2015 First preference State of future practice NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT ACT Country other than Australia Total 2, , , , , Table 8b. of respondents by state of completion and year, 2011 to 2015 State of completion NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT Total 2, , , , ,

11 When surveyed about first preferred region of future practice (Table 9), the majority of graduates across the last five years choose an urban location (81.8% to 84.4%). Small towns/communities rose from 4.4% in 2011 to a high of 6% in both 2013 and Those stating a first preference of Regional city or large town have remained consistent at the 11-12% mark. The small fluctuations can be seen in raw numbers (Graph 2a) and proportionally (Graph 2b). Table 9. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year, 2011 to 2015 First preference region of future practice Urban 2, , , , , Regional city or large town Small town/community Total 2, , , , , Graph 2a. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year, 2011 to Small tow n/community Regional city or large tow n Urban

12 Graph 2b. Career intention: first preference region of future practice for students preferring to practice in Australia, by year, 2011 to 2015 Cent Small tow n/community Regional city or large tow n Urban 25 0 The preferred country of future practice is illustrated in Table 10. Figures across the last five years for the three options - Australia, New Zealand and Others have remained remarkably stable with Australia being the preferred country of future practice for 95% of graduates. Table 10. Preferred country of future practice by year, 2011 to 2015 Preferred Country of future practice Australia 2, , , , , New Zealand Other Total 2, , , , ,

13 The top four intended areas of future practice (Table 11) across the last five years have remained relatively stable with Adult Medicine/Internal Medicine/Physician, General Practice, Surgery and Paediatrics and Child Health proving to be consistently popular amongst each cohort. The leading area of future practice saw almost 20% of graduates indicate Adult Medicine/Internal Medicine/Physician as their first preference in 2015 which corresponded very closely to similar responses in 2011 and Surgery remains the third most popular preference in 2015 although this has declined in perage terms from a high of 18.1% in 2011 to 15.3% in Behind the top four choices, the fifth and sixth most popular options continue to be Emergency Medicine (8.4% in 2015) and Anaesthesia (8.1% in 2015). In terms of pure numbers, single digit responses were recorded in 2015 for Addiction Medicine, Medical Administration, Non-Specialist Hospital Practice, Radiation Oncology, Rehabilitation Medicine and Sexual Health Medicine. Of those intended areas of future practice which were able to be selected in 2015, a response of zero was recorded for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 13

14 Table 11. First preference area of future practice by year, 2011 to First preference area of future practice Rank (in year) Rank (in year) Rank (in year) Addiction Medicine Adult Medicine/ Internal Medicine/ Physician Anaesthesia Dermatology Emergency Medicine General Practice Indigenous Health Intensive Care Medicine Medical Administration (eg managing a hospital) Non-Specialist Hospital Practice (eg career as a medical officer in a hospital) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Occupational and Environmental Medicine Ophthalmology Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Paediatrics and Child Health Pain Medicine Palliative Medicine Pathology Psychiatry Public Health Medicine Radiation Oncology Radiology Rehabilitation Medicine Rural and Remote Medicine Sexual Health Medicine Sport and Exercise Medicine Surgery Other Total 2, , ,

15 Table 11. First preference area of future practice by year, 2011 to 2015 (continued) First preference area of future practice Rank (in year) Rank (in year) Addiction Medicine Adult Medicine/ Internal Medicine/ Physician Anaesthesia Dermatology Emergency Medicine General Practice Indigenous Health Intensive Care Medicine Medical Administration (eg managing a hospital) Non-Specialist Hospital Practice (eg career as a medical officer in a hospital) Obstetrics and Gynaecology Occupational and Environmental Medicine Ophthalmology Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Paediatrics and Child Health Pain Medicine Palliative Medicine Pathology Psychiatry Public Health Medicine Radiation Oncology Radiology Rehabilitation Medicine Rural and Remote Medicine Sexual Health Medicine Sport and Exercise Medicine Surgery Other Total 2, ,

16 The figures for students showing an interest in becoming involved in teaching remains very high with 83.5% indicating this in 2015 (Table 12). Those students indicating no interest in teaching accounted for 3.6% which is exactly the same figure as recorded in Table 12. Interest in teaching by year, 2011 to 2015 Interest in teaching No Yes 1, , , , , Undecided Total 2, , , , , With regards to interest in research (Table 13), although the figure has dipped slightly in 2015 (61.5% compared to 64% in 2014), the overall five year trend points to an increase in this specific area. Those students who stated that they are undecided posted an almost exact return from 2014 of just over 23%. Table 13. Interest in research by year, 2011 to 2015 Interest in research No Yes 1, , , , , Undecided Total 2, , , , , Table 14 indicates the degree of interest amongst graduates in becoming involved in Indigenous health as part of their medical career. The question was first asked in 2014 so trend results are at an early stage. However, the interest from 2015 students is virtually identical to the previous year with 37% indicating Yes, 23% stating No and 39% declaring themselves Undecided. Table 14. Interest in Indigenous health as part of future medical career by year, 2014 to 2015 Interest in Indigenous health No Yes Undecided Total 2, ,

17 Table 15, which illustrates Internship acceptance by state, shows the top three of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria as the most popular choices with graduates. This trend has been maintained over the course of the last five years. South Australia has dropped from an Internship acceptance rate of 8.5% in 2014 to 5% in 2015%. It should be noted there is a proportionally lower response rate in 2015 from students studying at NSW, Western Australian, and ACT medical schools. Table 15. Internship acceptance state by year, 2011 to 2015 Internship acceptance state NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT ACT Country other than Australia Total 2, , , , ,

18 Medical School Experience The level of student satisfaction with their medical program at university was ranked from 1 (Very Satisfied) to 5 (Very Dissatisfied). The average level of satisfaction for all medical school programs across Australia has remained remarkably constant at 2.2 as can be observed in Table 16. These figures are also reflected in the median satisfaction score of 2 (satisfied) which has remained unaltered over the last half-decade. Table 16. Overall level of Satisfaction with the Medical program at their university, 2011 to 2015 Satisfaction Average satisfaction Median satisfaction satisfied or very satisfied unsatisfied or very unsatisfied Prior Education Concerning students who had previous tertiary education prior to undertaking their medical program (based on commencement data, Table 17a), over 90% had completed at least a Degree/Certificate across all five years. Those who had previously completed a Masters fluctuated from 4.3% in 2013 to 7.3% in Previous PhD graduates consistently hover around the 1-2% mark. Table 17a. Highest level previous degree by year, 2011 to 2015 (based on data collected at commencement) Previous degree highest degree level Degree/Certificate 1, , , , Masters PHD Total 1, , , , ,

19 Looking at Table 17b, the highest level of previous degree (based on exit data from 2014 and 2015) is split further, illustrating Bachelor Degree and Bachelor Degree (Honours) as the two dominant options. It is worth noting that Bachelor Degree increased from 59.9% in 2014 to 63.1% in 2015, whereas Bachelor Degree (Honours) dropped from 26.3% in 2014 to 23.9% this year. Table 17b. Highest level previous degree by year, 2014 to 2015 (based on data collected at graduation) Previous degree highest degree level Postgraduate degree Graduate diploma or graduate certificate level Bachelor degree (honours) Bachelor degree Diploma Certificate Total 1, , Prior to 2014 a slightly different question was asked at commencement See table above for data collected at commencement 19

20 As with previous years, the majority of 2015 graduates had completed their earlier degrees in the fields of Science, Medical Science or Health/Allied Health (Table 18a). The highest proportion was Science at 36.6%. Medical Science has shown a steady but marked year-on-year increase from 23.4% in 2011 to 27.4% in 2015, whilst those students with previous Health/Allied Health degrees have remained remarkably stable at approximately 20%. Table 18a. Discipline of highest previous degree by year, 2011 to 2015 (based on data collected at commencement) Discipline of highest previous degree Science Medical science Health/Allied health Humanities Commerce/Business/Law Physical sciences Other/Unknown Total 1, , , , , Prior to 2014 this question was asked at commencement, hence the data have been matched to End year, resulting in more missing data for earlier years. Derived from collection of up to 4 degree names prior to From 2014 data collected at graduation rather than commencement with different categories below. 20

21 From 2014 the survey now captures the discipline of highest previous degree data on the exit survey (Table 18b). Nearly half of students who had completed a previous degree had done so in Natural and Physical Sciences (47.4%), whilst over 40% had completed a Health-related degree. The top three Health-related fields of degrees are Medical Studies (15.4% in 2014, 14.1% in 2015), Pharmacy (5.9% in 2014, 5.7% in 2015) and Rehabilitation Therapies (6.2% in 2014, 5.4% in 2015). Table 18b. Discipline of highest previous degree by year, from 2014 to 2015 (based on data collected at graduation) Discipline of highest previous degree Natural and Physical Sciences % % Information Technology % % Engineering and Related Technologies % % Architecture and Building 7 0.5% 3 0.2% Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies 5 0.4% 8 0.7% Health Total* % % -- Medical studies % % -- Complementary Therapies 4 0.3% 5 0.4% -- Dental Studies 9 0.6% % -- Nursing / Midwifery % % -- Optical Science % 4 0.3% -- Pharmacy % % -- Rehabilitation Therapies % % -- Radiography % % -- Public Health % % -- Veterinary Studies % 9 0.7% -- Other Health % % Education % % Management and Commerce % % Society and Culture % % Creative Arts % % Food, Hospitality and sonal Services 3 0.2% 5 0.4% Mixed Field Programs % % Prior to 2014 a slightly different question was asked at commencement See table above for data collected at commencement *Due to the structure of the question Health total includes those who ticked a row titled 'Health, please specify' and did not specify an area as well as those who specified at least one health area. 21

22 Influences on Career Choice Table 19 illustrates how the perceived financial prospects of a graduates choice of discipline came to influence that decision. Of those students who claimed Not at all, there has been a rise in the perage figures from 22.5% in 2014 to 24.2% in This continues the gradual increase that has been witnessed over the last five years. Conversely, those students selecting 4 or a great deal has dropped to 24.4% from 2014 s figure of 25.2%. Table 19. Level of influence of perceived financial prospects on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year, 2011 to 2015 ceived financial prospects influenced choice Not at all or a great deal Scale: 1 = Not at all to 5 = A great deal. The majority of students reported that the financial costs of medical school education/debt (Table 20) did not influence their preferred choice of medicine upon graduating. For the first time, over half of all students (53.6%) indicated that financial costs had Not at all affected their decision. This is a rise of over 5% from However, those graduates indicating that the financial costs of medical school/debt did influence their career pathway choice rose above 10% for the first time, although this represented only a very small increased shift of 0.7% from the previous year. Table 20. Level of influence of Financial costs of medical school education/debt on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year, 2011 to 2015 Financial costs of medical school education/debt influenced choice Not at all 1, , , , , or a great deal Scale: 1 = Not at all to 5 = A great deal 22

23 Regarding the level of influence of the number of years required to complete training in the preferred area of medicine, 35.4% of respondents indicated 4 or a great deal. As Table 21 shows, this is generally consistent with the five year results where the lowest figure is 33.5% (2012) and the highest is 36.6% (2014). For those graduates who indicated Not at all the figure continued on a general upward trend (2014 excepted) and recorded its highest result of 17.4%. This is a marked increase on 2011 s 12.6% figure. Table 21. Level of influence of number of years required to complete training on choice of most preferred area of medicine by year Factor - number of years required to complete training Not at all or a great deal Scale: 1 = Not at all to 5 = A great deal 2015 Data may be influenced by change to web based reporting. 23

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