Medical Students as Learners: Transforming the Resident-Level Microskills of Teaching into a Parallel Curriculum for Medical Students to Aid the Transition from Classroom to OB/GYN Clerkship

Abstract

The objective of the study was to describe and assess a brief curricular intervention designed to help medical students adopt active learning strategies. Based on student interest, we created a one-hour workshop that focused on seven microskills of learning and presented it to our medical students during their Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship. The workshop utilized a modified version of the "Five-Step 'Microskills' Model of Clinical Teaching" first described by Neher in 1992 and paralleled the model our residents are taught as part of their "Resident-as-Teacher" curriculum. Students were surveyed at various time points following the workshop to evaluate the perceived usefuness, value, and durability of the skills taught. Immediate postworkshop feedback was favorable with 93% of students expecting to use the skills taught. At the end of the rotation, students reported a significant increase in usage of each microskill via a retrospective pre/postquestionnaire. While response rates at 1, 3, and 6 months after the rotation were moderate, the majority of the students responding stated that they had utilized the microskills. In its pilot year, the Microskills of Learning workshop was a beneficial addition to our clinical clerkship curriculum. By utilizing a parallel curriculum to that of our residents, the workshop mutually enhanced the educational process by encouraging teachers and learners to speak the same language.