Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Development and evaluation of a simulation-based pediatric emergency medicine curriculum.
The infrequency of severe childhood illness limits opportunities for emergency medicine (EM) providers to learn from real-world experience. Simulation offers an evidence-based educational approach to develop and practice clinical skills. ⋯ A one-day, simulation-based pediatric EM curriculum produced limited results. The evaluation approach is reasonable and reproducible for the population studied. Instructional dose strength and factors may have limited curriculum effectiveness. Focused, frequent, and effortful instructional interventions are necessary to achieve substantial performance improvements.
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To identify aspects that influence students' evaluation of the overall quality of clerkships and learning in clinical settings. ⋯ Factors influencing students' evaluation of a clerkship vary among medical specialties and depend not only on the teaching and teacher but also on the clerkship's organization, supervision, and learning activities. For clerkships where direct and multiple access to patients is more difficult, written case-based PSL activities proved complementary to direct patient encounter activities.
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To identify common struggles of interns, determine residency program directors' (PDs') views of the competencies to be gained in the fourth year of medical school, and apply this information to formulate goals of curricular reform and student advising. ⋯ PDs deemed the fourth year to have a critical role in the curriculum. There was consensus about expected fourth-year competencies and the common clinical experiences that best prepare students for residency training. These findings support using the fourth year to transition students to graduate medical training and highlight areas for curricular innovation.
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To determine students' views about the strengths and weaknesses of real patient interactions as opposed to simulated patient (SP) interactions in the undergraduate medical curriculum in order to evaluate how their strengths can be optimally used and weaknesses remedied. ⋯ Both real patient interactions and SP interactions are considered indispensable to undergraduate medical education. Each encounter has unique strengths and weaknesses from the perspectives of students. On the basis of strengths and weaknesses that were identified, suggestions were made for the use of real patients and SPs in undergraduate medical education.