Purpose: We assessed the feasibility of an electronic, multimodal pre-residency curriculum (the #OBGYNInternChallenge) disseminated primarily via text messaging (SMS).
Background: Medical schools and groups like APGO/CREOG and ACOG have sought to create “ready for day one” curricula targeting new OB/Gyn residents. Many of these are limited by factors related to their dissemination or cost. SMS-based “microlearning” has been deployed outside of medical education and is feasible in reaching a target audience easily and at low cost.
Methods: A 25-day OB/Gyn residency preparatory curriculum was developed using the Arist SMS platform (Arist.co), reviewing foundational knowledge for OB/Gyn internship informed by CREOG Milestone Level One. This was advertised by a single email to residency program directors, as well as a social media campaign on Twitter and Instagram. The SMS curriculum included a daily topic with questions, infographics and a website, which linked to a daily podcast and additional daily readings.
Results: Total enrollment for the SMS curriculum was 1056, or 71.9% of the 1469 filled positions for OB/Gyn residency spots in the 2021 NRMP Match. The cost of advertising was $0. The cost of the intervention was $2539.20 for the SMS component and $144 for the website: a total of $2,683.20, or $2.54 per participant. Course completion rate was 81.3% (858/1056).
Discussions: We demonstrated the potential for a standardized, expert-written SMS-based curricula to reach a significant number of learners at low cost and high rates of completion.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2022, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Clerkship Coordinator, Osteopathic Faculty, Residency Director, Residency Coordinator, Medical Knowledge, GME, UME, Independent Study, General Ob-Gyn,
R. Nicholas Burns, MD, University of Washington; Elizabeth Southworth, MD; Sarah Santiago, MD; Fei Cai, MD; Emily Fay, MD; Alyssa Stephenson-Famy, MD
