Differential attainment at MRCS according to gender, ethnicity, age and socioeconomic factors: a retrospective cohort study

Ricky Ellis · Peter A. Brennan · Amanda Jane Lee · Duncan Scrimgeour · Jennifer Cleland

47 citations0/0 files storedJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Diversity and Career in Medicine Innovations in Medical Education Medical Education and Admissions

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: A recent independent review on diversity and inclusivity highlighted concerns that barriers to surgical career progression exist for some groups of individuals and not others. Group-level differences in performance at the Intercollegiate Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (MRCS) examinations have been identified but are yet to be investigated. We aimed to characterise the relationship between sociodemographic differences and performance at MRCS. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Secondary care. PARTICIPANTS: 2600) between 2013 and 2019 with linked sociodemographic data in the UK Medical Education Database (https://www.ukmed.ac.uk). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Chi-square tests established univariate associations with MRCS performance. Multiple logistic regression identified independent predictors of success, adjusted for medical school performance. RESULTS: < 0.05). After adjusting for prior academic attainment, being male (odds ratio [OR] 2.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.87-2.92) or a non-graduate (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.44-2.74) were independent predictors of MRCS Part A success and being a non-graduate (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.15-2.71) and having attended a fee-paying school (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.08-2.10) were independent predictors of Part B success. Black and minority ethnic groups were significantly less likely to pass MRCS Part B at their first attempt (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.18-0.92 for Black candidates and OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.35-0.69 for Asian candidates) compared to White candidates. CONCLUSIONS: There is significant group-level differential attainment at MRCS, likely to represent the accumulation of privilege and disadvantage experienced by individuals throughout their education and training. Those leading surgical education now have a responsibility to identify and address the causes of these attainment differences.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 47 citations exist upstream.

References

2011Ethnicity and academic performance in UK trained doctors and medical students: systematic review and meta-analysis 2013The Social and Learning Environments Experienced by Underrepresented Minority Medical Students 2013Academic performance of ethnic minority candidates and discrimination in the MRCGP examinations between 2010 and 2012: analysis of data 2016Perceived causes of differential attainment in UK postgraduate medical training: a national qualitative study 2007Performance in the MRCP(UK) Examination 2003–4: analysis of pass rates of UK graduates in relation to self-declared ethnicity and gender 2020Nevertheless, They Persisted: How Women Experience Gender-Based Discrimination During Postgraduate Surgical Training 2019Relationship between sociodemographic factors and specialty destination of UK trainee doctors: a national cohort study

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.