Medical Education Online (Jan 2021)

Transitioning preclinical students into clerkships amidst curricular disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Ernie L. Esquivel,
  • Paolo De Angelis,
  • John K. Chae,
  • Joseph E. Safdieh,
  • Erika L. Abramson,
  • Yoon Kang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2021.1996216
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 1

Abstract

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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant disruptions to medical education. The patient care space was unavailable as a learning environment, which compounded the complexity of preparing students for clerkships with a traditional transition to clerkship (TTC) curriculum. We developed a multimodal, structured approach to re-introduce students to the clinical space prior to the start of clerkships. 105 second year medical students completed a 4-week clinical enhancement course. A modified Delphi method was used to select core topics, which were then anchored to key Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). Students participated in 9 virtual problem-based cases, workshops and multiple supervised patient encounters. Students were surveyed before, during, and after the course; responses were compared with paired t-tests. 25.9% rated the course as excellent, 44.2% as very good, and 19.5% as good. Compared to baseline, self-perceived efficacy grew significantly (P < 0.05) across all EPAs. Improvements in key competencies were sustained when students were surveyed 2 weeks into their first clerkship. This was a well-received, novel course, focused on helping students transition back into the clinical space through a multimodal teaching approach. This framework may be used by other institutions seeking to restructure their TTC initiatives.

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