Purpose: Describe and evaluate the effect of teaching students critical appraisal of medical literature.
Background: Medical learners face an overwhelming quantity of research literature which must be triaged for quality and clinical applicability. Guiding learners to develop the critical analysis skills necessary to practice evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a challenging area of medical student curriculum. Education literature provides limited information on best practices for teaching these concepts.
Methods: We embedded a weekly journal-club-style analysis of selected research articles into the required didactic sessions for third year medical students rotating on core ob/gyn and surgery services. Faculty facilitated small-group student discussion sessions then modeled evidence based critical analysis of the articles. Students completed a 20 question pre- and post-test assessment on their knowledge of research methodology (10 multiple choice questions) and comfort/confidence with assessing literature critically (10 Likert scale items scored 1 to 5).
Results: Students showed a statistically significant improvement in both research methodology knowledge and comfort/confidence in EBM interpretation scores from the pre- to post-test assessments. Mean scores of student comfort/confidence increased from 3.56 to 3.88 when comparing pre- and post-test scores. Mean score on test of knowledge increased from 67% correct pre-test to 76% correct post-test.
Discussions: Exposure of medical students to critical appraisal of the medical literature during their early clinical rotations generated improvement in familiarity and comfort with evaluating the merits and shortcomings of medical publications. Appropriate assessment of the ever-growing body of medical literature will be critical for the next generation of providers to translate research results to clinical use.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2022, Student, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Osteopathic Faculty, Medical Knowledge, Professionalism, Systems-Based Practice & Improvement, Practice-Based Learning & Improvement, UME, Quality & Safety, Independent Study, Team-Based Learning,
Katherine Strafford, MD, The Ohio State University; Jonathan Schaffir, MD; Jeff Barbee
