Abstract
BackgroundTraditional medical student curricula limit substantial clinical experiences until the third and fourth years of medical school. This delay in valuable experiences hinders the ability of some medical students to choose a specialty to pursue, delays the formation of meaningful longitudinal mentorship relationships, and limits the development of important clinical acumen. Furthermore, the use of medical students in preclinical years may help to improve patient care and outcomes.ApproachThe novel preclinical Diabetes SPECIAL (Students Providing Education on Chronic Illness and Lifestyle) elective was designed to introduce first year medical students to the field of endocrinology, promote the development of a professional identity, improve medical student communication skills, and raise awareness of the complexities of managing patients living with diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, and novel to this experience, was to measure the impact of this elective on patient outcomes.EvaluationStudents attended patient appointments, communicated with their assigned patients regularly, relayed important health information to the attending endocrinologist, and attended monthly didactic sessions. The elective outcomes were evaluated via completed surveys by patients, students, and attending physicians as well as medical record review for pre- and post-elective hemoglobin A1C levels.ReflectionStudents, faculty, and patients who participated in this elective generally reported having a positive experience. Seven out of 10 patients had a reduction in their hemoglobin A1C levels. The outcomes from the pilot of this novel preclinical elective support the importance of early clinical exposure in medical student training and highlight potential positive impacts on both medical student education and patient outcomes.
Highlights
Traditional medical student curricula limit substantial clinical experiences until the third and fourth years of medical school
Using the conceptual change theory as a model, Kay et al sought to identify the experiences in medical school that introduced cognitive disequilibrium
Aside from fostering the development of a student’s professional identity, early exposure to medical and surgical specialties via preclinical electives may increase interest in fields not commonly experienced by medical students, increase the proficiency of medical students on core clinical rotations, and allow students to better prepare strong residency applications
Summary
In the traditional 4-year medical student curriculum, students primarily study basic sciences for the first 2 years with minimal clinical exposure prior to transitioning to clinical clerkships for the last 2 years of training [1]. Four experiences were identified, namely: 312 Diabetes SPECIAL (Students Providing Education on Chronic Illness and Lifestyle) the transition from undergraduate student to medical student, clinical experiences in the preclinical years, exposure to the business aspect of medicine, and exposure to physicians in clinical practice [3]. By targeting these vulnerable periods with impactful experiences, researchers suggested that educators may see further development of the professional identity. Aside from fostering the development of a student’s professional identity, early exposure to medical and surgical specialties via preclinical electives may increase interest in fields not commonly experienced by medical students, increase the proficiency of medical students on core clinical rotations, and allow students to better prepare strong residency applications
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