Expectations for student oral case presentations: Do internal medicine and pediatric course directors see eye to eye?

Abstract

In North American medical schools, internists agree on the most important attributes of a medical student's oral case presentation (OCP). We hypothesized that pediatric undergraduate medical education leaders would share opinions with internists. To test this, we surveyed North American pediatrician members of the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) regarding the relative importance of attributes of the medical student OCP in 2010. Eighteen items were identical to those posed to members of the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) in 2007, four were unique to pediatrics. Responses were compared using χ2 or t-tests as appropriate. Although COMSEP's response rate was 157 of 334 (47%) it included a respondent from 71% of US medical schools. CDIM received 82 of 110 surveys (75%). The same eight OCP attributes were rated as ‘very important’ by >50% of both internists and pediatricians. Only one pediatric-specific item was rated as ‘very important’ by >50% of pediatricians. Pediatricians, compared with internists, believed OCPs should be slightly shorter (6.8 ± 3.3 vs. 8.2 ± 4.2 minutes, P = 0.006). The shared common expectations for OCPs can be used to develop interdepartmental instruction in, and assessment of, OCPs.