Purpose: To assess fourth year medical students’ (MS4s) access to OB/Gyn bootcamps and whether boot camp access increases knowledge or confidence.
Background: Some medical schools host a knowledge and skills “bootcamp” to prepare MS4s for residency. While individual efforts have been reported, studies have not globally characterized bootcamps, their contents, or their effectiveness on student knowledge and confidence.
Methods: Before a novel residency preparatory curriculum, MS4s entering OB/Gyn residency completed a survey regarding access to bootcamps, confidence, and baseline knowledge assessed via a pre-test. Wilcoxon-rank-sum evaluated the association between bootcamp access and confidence. Student t-test evaluated the association of bootcamp access with baseline knowledge.
Results: Of 1058 total survey responses, 535 (50.6%) reported access to a bootcamp, the majority (90.5%) of which were hosted by medical schools. Bootcamps were predominantly 1-2 weeks in length (35.5%). Participants reported that bootcamps consisted of lectures (45.3%), technical skills (36.7%), and simulations (31.4%). Bootcamp access was associated with improved confidence in medical school preparation (p < 0.001) and having adequate educational resources (p = 0.002). Access was not associated with confidence in knowledge (p = 0.06), technical skills (p = 0.28), or a realistic impression of residency (p = 0.46). Bootcamp participants and non-participants performed similarly on pre-intervention knowledge test (average score 61.4% vs 61.2%, p = 0.89).
Discussions: Bootcamp access is highly variable among US MS4s, and not associated with confidence in multiple domains or baseline knowledge.
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,
Sarah Santiago, MD, University of Michigan; Elizabeth Southworth, MD; Fei Cai, MD; Alyssa Stephenson-Famy, MD; Emily Fay, MD; R. Nicholas Burns, MD
