Background: Studies have demonstrated that female student perform better on the OB/GYN clerkship, possibly due to women not wanting male trainees to participate in their care. Simulation may circumvent this problem as males and females can participate equally. We investigated the effects of gender and simulation training on student performance during an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to determine if a gender difference exists and whether simulation training mitigates this difference.
Methods: During the 3rd year OB/GYN clerkship students were assigned 1:1 to receive vaginal delivery or cervical exam training with each group serving as the simulation naïve control group for the other skill. Their performance was assessed during an end of clerkship OSCE. The number of real-life vaginal deliveries and cervical exams performed during the clerkship were also recorded. The effects of gender and its interactions with training were assessed using a 2-way ANOVA.
Results: Thirty male and 28 female students received cervical exam training. Thirty five male and 19 female students received vaginal delivery training. There was no effect of gender or an interaction with training and gender save for the number of real-life vaginal deliveries performed. Female vaginal delivery students performed significantly more real-life deliveries than male vaginal delivery students.
Discussions: Although prior retrospective studies demonstrated that female students perform better on several aspects of the OB/GYN clerkship, our prospective study of OSCE performance did not show any gender differences in performance.
Keywords: Student GenderSimulation
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2016, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Residency Director, Patient Care, Interpersonal & Communication Skills, GME, UME, Assessment, Simulation, Standardized Patient, General Ob-Gyn,
Joshua Nitsche, MD, PhD, Wake Forest School of Medicine; Kristina Shumard, MD; Jeffrey Denney, MD, MS; Kristen Quinn, MD, MS; Brian Brost, MD
