Investigation of the Use of Core Practical Objectives for Standardizing the Experiences of Fourth Year Medical Students during an Emergency Medicine Clerkship

ABSTRACT Objective: Emergency medicine is an evolving discipline in Canadian medical schools. Little has been published regarding student preferences for emergency medicine training during the clerkship phase of MD programs. We assessed medical students' perceptions of a newly developed emergency medicine clerkship rotation involving multiple learning modalities. The evaluation process included assessment of the rotation's instructional elements and overall educational value. Methods: The first cohort of medical students to complete this new emergency medicine clerkship was invited to answer a questionnaire just before graduation. Students rated their preferences for components of the rotation using paired comparisons. Open-ended questions explored students' satisfaction with the emergency medicine clerkship as well as perceptions of the rotation's impact on career development. Results: Of the 94 students in the first clerkship cohort, 81 (86%) responded to the survey. Students found the emergency medicine clerkship highly valuable, citing the broad range of cases seen, close supervision, and opportunities to develop clinical assessment, decision-making and procedural skills. Students' curricular preferences were for advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) (26.4%), clinical shifts (20.6%), supervised clinical shifts (17.8%), procedural skills laboratories (14.8%), tutorials (10.8%) and preceptor-assisted learning sessions (9.8%). Conclusion: This new emergency medicine clerkship program incorporated multiple learning methods within a 4-week rotation and was highly rated by students. Although clinical shifts and ACLS were generally preferred activities, students had varying individual preferences for specific learning activities. Multiple learning methods allowed all students to benefit from the rotation. This study makes a compelling case for including an emergency medicine rotation with multiple learning modalities as a core element of clerkship at every medical school.

Download Full-text

Group versus modified individual standard-setting on multiple-choice questions with the Angoff method for fourth-year medical students in the internal medicine clerkship

Advances in Medical Education and Practice ◽

10.2147/amep.s46705 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kittisak Sawanyawisuth ◽

Senthong ◽

Chindaprasirt ◽

Aekphachaisawat ◽

Chaowattanapanit ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Internal Medicine ◽

Medical Students ◽

Multiple Choice ◽

Group Versus ◽

Standard Setting ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

Medicine Clerkship ◽

Angoff Method ◽

Internal Medicine Clerkship ◽

Fourth Year Medical Students

Download Full-text

Emergency Medicine Clerkship Primer: A Manual for Medical Students

Academic Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1111/j.1553-2712.2009.00579.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 16 (12) ◽

pp. e39-e39

Author(s):

Kapil Dhingra ◽

Erik Laurin

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medicine Clerkship

Download Full-text

Student Perception of Case-based Teaching by Near-Peers and Faculty during the Internal Medicine Clerkship: A Noninferiority Study

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development ◽

10.1177/23821205211020762 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 238212052110207

Author(s):

Syed E Ahmad ◽

Gino A Farina ◽

Alice Fornari ◽

Ruth Ellen Pearlman ◽

Karen Friedman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Small Group ◽

Teaching Effectiveness ◽

Teaching Performance ◽

Performance Score ◽

Medicine Clerkship ◽

Internal Medicine Clerkship ◽

Fourth Year Medical Students ◽

Peer Teachers ◽

Faculty Teachers

Introduction: Third-year medical students traditionally receive their didactic or small group teaching sessions from clinical faculty during clerkship rotations. Near-peer teaching is increasingly recognized as an acceptable method for teaching, however most near-peer teaching takes place during the pre-clinical curriculum. We sought to determine if fourth year medical students were noninferior to faculty in facilitating small group discussions during clerkship rotations. Methods: Seventy-five third-year medical students participated in a small group session focused on rheumatologic diseases during their internal medicine clerkship rotation. Students were taught by fourth-year medical students who self-selected to participate as near-peer teachers at 1 clinical site (near-peers, N = 36) and by clinical faculty at another site (N = 39). At the end of the session, third-year medical students completed a survey evaluating teacher performance and effectiveness. Results: There was no significant difference between the 2 groups on each of the 17 survey items assessing teacher performance, the total teaching performance score, and the teaching effectiveness rating (all P-values >.05). A mean between-group difference of 2% in favor of the near-peers indicated noninferiority of the near-peer teachers compared with faculty teachers on the total teaching performance score. An absolute difference of 14% in favor of the near-peers indicated noninferiority of the near-peer teachers compared with faculty teachers on the teaching effectiveness score. Near-peer teachers reported several benefits, including improving their own medical knowledge and skills as a future educator. Discussion: Our data supports the noninferiority of the perceived performance and effectiveness of near-peer teachers compared to faculty teachers in the clerkship setting. Adding near-peer teachers to the clerkship setting is feasible and can be beneficial to all stakeholders.

Download Full-text