Ranking Spain's Medical Schools by their performance in the national residency examination

Clasificación de las facultades de medicina españolas según sus resultados en el MIR

B.G. Lopez-Valcarcela, V. Ortúnb,

Corresponding author

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Corresponding author.

, P. Barbera, J.E. Harrisc,d, B. Garcíaa

a Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Management, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

b Department of Economics and Business, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

c Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States

d Providence Community Health Centers, Providence, RI, United States

Abstract

Background

Medical school graduates in Spain must take a uniform national exam (called “examen MIR”) in order to enter postgraduate training in a specialty. Its results offer a unique opportunity to rank medical schools according to this exam.

Objectives

We measured differences in the MIR exam results among Spanish medical schools and assessed the stability of the MIR-based rankings for the period 2003–2011.

Results

In the year 2011 a total of 6873 residency positions nationwide were offered by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality. These positions covered 47 specialties distributed over 231 training centers. A total of 11,550 medical graduates (including 1997 foreign graduates) took the MIR examination. Marked differences among medical schools were evident. The median graduate from medical school #1 and #29 occupied the positions 1477 and 5383, respectively. These figures correspond to a standardized ranking of 21 out of 100 for medical school #1 (that is, 1477/6873; half of medical school #1 obtained better [below position 21%] and half worse [over position 21%] results) and a standardized ranking of 70 out of 100 for medical school #29. While 81% of the medical school #1 graduates were amongst the best 3000 MIR exams and only 5% above the 5000 position the corresponding figures for medical school #29 graduates were 21% and 44%, respectively. The ranking position of the 29 medical schools was very stable between the years 2003 and 2011.

Conclusion

There are marked differences in medical schools in Spain and these differences are very consistent over the years 2003–2011.

Keywords:

Medical education

Choice of medical specialties

Medical school

University ranking

Resumen

Antecedentes

En España, los graduados de las Facultades de Medicina deben tomar someterse a nacional uniforme (llamado «MIR») con el fin de ingresar a la formación de posgrado en una especialidad médica. Sus resultados ofrecen una oportunidad única para clasificar las Facultades en términos de calidad.

Objetivos

Medir la presencia y la significación de las diferencias en los resultados del MIR entre las facultades de medicina españolas, y evaluar la estabilidad de las clasificaciones basadas en los resultados de la prueba MIR para el período 2003–2011.

Resultados

Se observaron diferencias significativas, persistentes y consistentes en los rankings basados en los resultados de la prueba MIR. El graduado promedio de la Facultad con mejores resultados queda clasificado en el percentil 21 en todo el país, mientras que el graduado promedio de la Facultad con peores resultados queda clasificado en el percentil 70.

Conclusión

Existen marcadas diferencias en las Facultades de Medicina en España, y estas diferencias son muy consistentes durante los años 2003 a 2011.

Palabras clave:

Educación médica

Elección de las especialidades médicas

Facultad de Medicina

Ranking de universidades