MedEdPORTAL (Aug 2009)
Adolescent History Training Module
Abstract
Abstract Introduction The resource is designed to familiarize medical students with the special needs and issues of the adolescent patient, including specific components of the adolescent expanded social history. The session emphasizes a combination of didactic and experiential learning and is broken into two parts. Methods The first section consists of a 1-hour didactic lecture discussing the needs of the adolescent patient, the importance of addressing the health needs of adolescents, and important procedural items such as assuring confidentiality and a level of autonomy. Following the lecture, the students report to the clinical skills assessment program section for their standardized patient interaction. Student pairs interview an adolescent using the structured communication adolescent guide. One student is responsible for conducting the interview (20 minutes) while the second student is responsible for observing the interaction and giving feedback along with the adolescent patient instructor (out of character) at the end of the session (10 minutes). The second student can then be the primary interviewer if there are enough adolescent instructors/time available. The encounters are observed by faculty via remote video and there is time set aside for students to debrief with faculty at the end of the session in a small-group setting. Students have a 1-hour didactic lecture discussing the needs of the adolescent patient. Results Students and faculty were surveyed on a quarterly basis in order to facilitate curriculum development. The curricular pieces are graded from poor to excellent based on three criteria, (1) relevance of topic, (2) quality of material presented, and (3) quality of the presentation. Both students and faculty graded the session favorably. Ninety-two percent of students rated the relevance of the lecture as good to excellent. Ninety percent thought the quality of the material is good to excellent, and 87% rated the quality of the presentation as good to excellent. Students also thought highly of the clinical skills section. Ninety percent thought the session increased their understanding and improved their self-assessment skills, and 80% thought the quality of feedback was good to excellent. Discussion A stable pool of recruited adolescents is ideal. Possibilities include outreach to enrichment programs in local high schools or volunteer groups. It is strongly recommend recruiting more students than necessary to anticipate potential absences. Another item to consider is the key importance of preparing the adolescent to feel comfortable to give feedback.
Keywords
