Relationship Between Student Academic and Clinical Performance in Podiatric Medical Education at Des Moines University

Abstract

Background: This study was performed to determine whether a relationship exists regarding academic achievement between years 1 and 2 of podiatric medical education at Des Moines University. Furthermore, this study evaluates the relationship between academic performance in the first 2 years and clinical performance in year 3. Methods: The academic records of four classes (2007–2010, N = 164) were examined for grade point averages and clinical performance scores using pairwise Pearson product moment correlations. Results: Significant high correlations existed in academic performance scores between year 1 and year 2 for individual classes and pooled data. Significant low to moderate correlations were found between academic performance and clinical performance scores for individual classes and pooled data. Conclusions: These results help define the relationship between student academic and clinical performance for podiatric medicine students at Des Moines University and suggest that nonacademic characteristics may play a pivotal role in clinical abilities. These characteristics need to be further identified and developed in the academic curriculum. There may be attributes identified that also benefit the admissions process. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 102(4): 314-318, 2012)