Background: Students
are introduced to clinical correlates sooner in the pre-clerkship curriculum to
facilitate adult learning. There are few studies determining
clerkship-specific clinical skills readiness in OB/GYN, a specialty with
historically limited previous exposure.
Methods: An
anonymous 15-question clinical readiness survey (1-5 Likert scale) was
administered to medical students during their OB/GYN Orientation at the
University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio over four academic years,
2014-2018, to determine baseline OB/GYN clinical skill knowledge and
confidence. Statistical analysis included Spearman rank correlation and
Chi-square, with significance defined as p<0.05.
Results: The
survey was completed by 346 students (77% participation). Overall,
students felt most confident (rated 5/5) in knot tying skills (17%) and closed
gloving technique (7%) and least confident (rated 1/5) in knowledge of labor
curve (86%), Leopolds maneuvers (88%) and Montevideo units (MVU) (89%).
Confidence in performing closed gloving (14% vs 30%, p<0.01) and tying
knots (18% vs 56%, p<0.01) were significantly higher during rotations later
in the academic year. Students who expressed a higher level of interest
felt more prepared for the clerkship (rs= 0.21, p<0.01).
Discussions: Results indicate that
confidence in obstetric-specific clinical skills is relatively low throughout
the academic year; however baseline surgical skills show improvement. It
is important for teaching faculty to know baseline clinical skills of the
medical student with earlier clinical exposure to enhance adult learning and
optimize clinical competency.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2019, Student, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, UME, Assessment, General Ob-Gyn,
Jill Krapf,
MD MEd, University
of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio; Nicholas Pyskir, BS; Kayla
Ireland, MD;
Erin Nelson,
MD
