Student underperformance in health professions education: A risk management perspective to help underperforming students

Medical students suffer from stress and psychological morbidity during their academic years which is mostly related to course work and workload. It has been a general concern in the educational arena regarding the underperformance of medical students. Literature provides a clear catalogue of reasons correlated with academic underperformance including: time management; reliance on passive learning; insufficient background and content knowledge; weakness in study skills, test-taking strategies or critical thinking and lack of self -regulation and metacognition.This article aims to offer a holistic yet detailed risk-management perspective to limit the risk of student underperformance among medical students. The literature will be used to identify and characterize risks; assess the vulnerability of students and the expected likelihood and consequences of specific type’s risk; identify ways to reduce those risks and prioritize risk reduction measures that can be implanted as well as strategies for academic rehabilitation.