NEW YORK--March 29, 2011--With their medical school student population facing unacceptable attrition rates, senior managers at a large Caribbean medical school faced board of trustee scrutiny, unwanted regulator attention and the risk of restricted growth. Unable to internally pinpoint the root cause, they turned to TABB Group Education Services, a new division being formally launched today at The TABB Group, the strategic advisory and research firm with offices in New York and London.

According to Alex Tabb, partner and head of TABB Education, “the medical school now has a strategic plan in place based on results culled from our multi-stage research study that identified specific issues affecting students’ success and failure. Within the next 12 to 18 months, they expect student attrition to decrease at least 25 per cent by implementing new strategies to improve students’ overall academic performance levels, preparing them for the rigorous challenges associated with a medical profession in the United States.”

“Issues surrounding ‘academic shock’ are now running hand-in-hand with rising student attrition rates at colleges, universities and tech institutes all over America. In the case of this institution, preparing students properly to face the challenges of becoming a doctor requires that every effort be made to ensure that students are provided with every available resource to ensure their success. After all, students don’t go to med school to simply get a degree, they go to become doctors,” says Tabb. “Add the Obama administration’s call for a higher concentration of college-educated adults, plus the need for more qualified M.D.s to meet the nation’s healthcare demands within the 10 to 15 years, and student attrition management moves right to the head of the line as an urgent problem in search of a viable, scalable solution.”

He adds that according to a 2008 report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the US is expected to face a shortage of 124,000 to 159,000 physicians by 2025. Reforms will add to that overall demand for doctors, increasing the shortfall by 25 per cent. “Medical education is an expanding $83.4 billion business in the US,” says Tabb, “all of it resting on the ability of medical schools being able to efficiently, effectively produce qualified M.D.s, which is why student attrition rates, especially at med schools, will have a tremendous negative impact on healthcare.”

TABB Education has worked closely with for-profit and non-profit educational institutions for the past two years solving complex operational problems, from student attrition management for medical schools, to issues covering strategic planning, market development, risk management, administrative process improvement and project management.

Clients include Texas A&M; Corpus Christi; DeVry University; Chamberlain School of Nursing; Carrington College; and Becker Professional Education; and other institutions.

TABB is also currently beta testing new clinical rotation management software, the industry’s first fully functional risk management platform developed specifically for managing the clinical clerkship component of a medical school student’s education. Utilizing a state-of-the-art algorithm, the new platform integrates seamlessly with a medical school’s existing student information system. It will be introduced during the second quarter, 2011.

About TABB Group Education Services

TABB Group Education Services, a division of The TABB Group, a strategic advisory and research group with offices in New York, Massachusetts and London, provides management- and operational-level services covering strategic planning, market development, risk management, administrative process improvement, project management and custom research. For more information, visit www.tabbgroup.com.

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