Influencing Factor
Traditional students
Mean score *
( n = 121 ) Responses of 4 or 5 (%)
Non-traditional students
( n = 75 ) P value Mean Responses score *
Influence on interactions on clinical rotations
of 4 or 5 (%)
Life experience 3.72 64.7 % 4.23 82.2 % < 0.001 Previous work experience 3.04 35.6 % 3.93 63.9 % < 0.001 Age 2.79 26.1 % 3.38 54.8 % < 0.001
Influence on speciality choice Previous work experience 2.53 22.9 % 3.10 35.2 % < 0.004 Age 1.87 9.0 % 2.62 25.7 % < 0.001
* Scores range from 1 , least impactful to 5 , most impactful
Table 1 : Traditional and nontraditional student perceptions of the impact of attributes and personal experiences on clinical rotations *
Figure 1 : Reasons for pursuing medicine of traditional students ( n = 121 ) and nontraditional students ( n = 75 ). Respondents were able to choose more than one option . The average number of responses per participant was 2.0 for both age groups .
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