Systematic review finds no consistent longitudinal change in medical student attendance at in-person teaching sessions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2030: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across 12 included studies, no consistent change in attendance was found: one study showed a significant increase, five a decrease, and six no significant difference. → Nagappan Palaniappan Ganesh 2025

Evidence¶

Nagappan Palaniappan Ganesh 2025¶

Nagappan Palaniappan Ganesh, Tan Sapphire Rou Xi, Absar Shazia, Brown Samuel, Sayers Sarah, McManus Alex, Arora Anmol, Kuhn Isla, Khan Faris, Lau Edward, Tulinius Charlotte. (2025). Changes in medical student attendance at in-person teaching sessions: a systematic review. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-091768

q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Narrative synthesis of 12 included studies in a systematic review. The review reports "five studies showed a decrease and six studies reported no statistically significant differences", with one showing a significant increase; no meta-analysis was possible due to heterogeneity.

"One study showed a statistically significant increase in class attendance over the study period, while five studies showed a decrease and six studies reported no statistically significant differences."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• All four studies measuring attendance within one academic year found a statistically significant decline across the year — reports the opposite
• Mandatory attendance policy initially raised attendance but was abolished due to dissatisfaction, administrative burden and declining performance — reports the opposite
• Electronic resources as adjuncts to in-person teaching were associated with increased attendance in three studies — related
• Attendance is generally positively correlated with medical student academic performance, though findings are mixed — related