[Impact of training conferences on medical student's performance for the French National Ranking Examination in Lorraine University. The ETIMCEL experimental study]

Purpose: To describe factors associated with a better rank, and to assess the impact of training conferences on medical student's performance for the French National Ranking Examination (FNRE) in Lorraine University, France in 2012.

Methods: Between October 2011 and May 2012, assistant professors of the faculty of medicine of Nancy, France, organized a cycle of 15 conferences combining clinical cases theoretical training and student peer assessment. Data were recorded with a self-administered questionnaire in January 2012 to collect potential confounders.

Results: Among 287 students enrolled in the last year of medical school in 2011-2012 in Lorraine University, 195 (67.9%) of them registered to the cycle of conferences. Among the potential prognostic factors assessed, not repeating the first year of medical curriculum (P=0.013), the number of courses validated at the first session during the second part of the medical curriculum (P=0.002), absence of difficulties experienced in the fifth and sixth year (P=0.032) and a desired ranking among the best (P=0.011) were independently associated with a better rank at the FNRE. Regular participation in conferences was significantly and independently associated with a higher ranking (mean gain for the participation in 13 or more conferences: 873; mean gain by conference: 63).

Conclusion: Regular participation in conferences provided by assistant professors and based on clinical cases theoretical training and student peer assessment was significantly associated with a higher ranking to the FNRE in Lorraine University in 2012.