Expectations of Anesthesia Clerkship: Identifying Medical Student Perspectives

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-19-2019

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONStudies have suggested a discordance between the expectations of medical students and those of residents and attendings for medical school clerkships.1 While the core clerkships are required for all medical students and have a standardized shelf exam, clerkships such as anesthesia are optional at most medical schools and have no set standards.2 Often feedback is received from post-clerkship evaluations and there is no standard for assessing pre-clerkship expectations of students.3 Without information regarding the goals and expectations of students entering the anesthesia clerkship, clerkship directors are left to create objectives based on the feedback of students who have completed an anesthesia rotation at their institution. The primary goal of this study is to identify the expectations of first and second year medical students of an anesthesia rotation prior to clerkship experience. A secondary aim is to compare the expectations of students interested in anesthesia to those who are not.


METHODS
This is an IRB approved prospective study. A fifteen question online survey utilizing Qualtrics was provided to first and second year Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) medical students to evaluate the expectations of an anesthesia clerkship. The survey was developed with the input of medical students to ensure relevant information from their perspective was included. The survey was distributed via email as well as being offered by co-investigators in person utilizing an iPad to increase response rate. The survey includes questions on how students prefer to learn, whether an anesthesia rotation should be required, what procedures they would like to learn, and their clinical expectations of an anesthesia rotation. Descriptive statistics for all variables have been calculated. In addition, T-tests and Chi-Square tests compare continuous and categorical responses, respectively, between those interested and not interested in anesthesia. The dataset to have a moderate effect size (~ 30%), required 63 students to respond to provide 80% statistical power for assessing moderate associations in the dataset.

RESULTS
74 responses were obtained. 33 of the students were interested in anesthesia as a career and statistically preferred the clerkship scheduled sooner (P=
CONCLUSION
These results provide insight into the specific expectations preclinical medical students have for the anesthesia clerkship. This data will help anesthesia clerkship directors develop curricula and educational objectives in alignment with student expectations. Additionally, this data will help anesthesiologists gauge what to teach medical students given their interests and desired autonomy.

Comments

American Society of Anesthesiologists. The Annual Anesthesia Meeting, October 2019, Orlando FL. Abstract Number: A1046

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