Core Internal Medicine Clerkship Research Articles

Teaching Sideways: Implementing a Peer-Led Medical Student Orientation Bootcamp and Survival Guide for Internal Medicine Clerkship.

Transitioning from classroom learning to clerkships presents a challenge for medical students because there is often sparse preparation material on how to effectively contribute to the medical team as a clerkship student. Although some medical schools have implemented transition-to-clerkship sessions, they often are led by faculty and lack the practical and contemporary guidance from students who have recently completed clerkships themselves. Using a sideways mentorship approach, we implemented a 1-hour near-peer Internal Medicine (IM) clerkship orientation bootcamp at our medical school and wrote an accompanying survival guide to teach students how to function as part of a medical team and to increase the transparency of student expectations and evaluations during the clerkship. The 1-hour session covered the following core topics: clerkship logistics, how to gather/present clinical information, a resident/student question-and-answer panel, and how to contribute to the medical team. A postclerkship medical student and second-year IM resident conducted the bootcamp for four student cohorts (105 students total) during the January to December 2022 clerkship year before the IM rotation of each cohort. After the bootcamp, students received a copy of the survival guide to solidify concepts covered in the session. A preclerkship survey included questions to assess student confidence in 10 core IM clerkship domains pre- and postbootcamp. Both pre- and postclerkship surveys asked students to provide feedback on bootcamp strengths and weaknesses. Wilcoxon signed rank tests revealed a significant increase in postbootcamp student confidence rating for all 10 clerkship domains in the early clerkship cohort and in the late clerkship cohort for all of the domains, except finding clinical reference resources (P = 0.15). The bootcamp had the largest effect size (r) on student confidence in both early and late clerkship cohorts for the following clerkship domains: familiarity with IM clerkship evaluation (early: r = 0.61, P < 0.001; late: r = 0.56, P = 0.002), identification of ways to contribute to the medical team (early: r = 0.58, P < 0.001; late: r = 0.63, P < 0.001), and prerounding/chart checking (early r = 0.52, P < 0.001; late: r = 0.55, P = 0.001). The percentage of students rating the helpfulness of both the bootcamp and survival guide as a 3 to 5 on a 5-point Likert scale in the postclerkship survey was highest for the following domains: being familiar with the structure of a subjective, objective, assessment, and plan presentation (88% and 97%), prerounding/chart checking (82% and 95%), writing progress notes (82% and 92%), and identifying ways to contribute to the medical team (82% and 95%). Students commented that the main strengths of the bootcamp included its specific tips on synthesizing and presenting clinical information and its transparency about student expectations and experiences. A structured student-led bootcamp can increase clerkship preparation in core domains. The bootcamp is now part of mandatory clerkship didactics at our medical school, given its success during the 2022 clerkship year, and its content is continuing to be expanded upon by postclerkship students and residents. In addition, the format of the bootcamp also is being adapted to other clerkships, including surgery and obstetrics/gynecology.

Update and Renewal of a National Internal Medicine Curriculum for Medical Students: Process and Outcomes

The landscape of undergraduate medical education has experienced many recent changes, including larger class sizes, a shift to more ambulatory training, and an emphasis on competency-based education.1,2 The core internal medicine clerkship has similarly evolved from the classic model of a 6- to 12-week rotation in an inpatient setting during the third year of medical school to diverse experiences of varying length, timing during the clinical curriculum, integration with other specialties, and balance between inpatient and ambulatory experiences.

Medical students' experiences with goals of care discussions and their impact on professional identity formation.

Goals of care (GoC) discussions occur amongst patients, family members and clinicians in order to establish plans of care and are invaluable aspects of end-of-life care. In previous research, medical learners have reported insufficient training and emotional distress about end-of-life decision making, but most studies have focused on postgraduate trainees and have been quantitative or have evaluated specific educational interventions. None have qualitatively explored medical students' experiences with GoC discussions, their perceptions of associated hidden curricula, and the impacts of these on professional identity formation (PIF), the individualised developmental processes by which laypersons evolve to think, act and feel like, and ultimately become, medical professionals. Using purposive sampling at one Canadian medical school, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 medical students to explore their experiences with GoC discussions during their core internal medicine clerkship. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed and anonymised. Concurrently with data collection, transcripts were analysed iteratively and inductively using interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative research approach that allows the rich exploration of subjective experiences. Participants reported minimal support and supervision in conducting GoC discussions, which were experienced as ethically challenging, emotionally powerful encounters exemplifying tensions between formal and hidden curricula. Role modelling and institutional culture were key mechanisms through which hidden curricula were transmitted, subverting formal curricula in doing so and contributing to participants' emotional distress. Participants' coping responses were generally negative and included symptoms of burnout, the pursuit of standardisation, rationalisation, compartmentalisation and the adaptation of previously held, more idealised professional identities. GoC discussions in this study were often led by inexperienced medical students and impacted negatively on their PIF. Through complex emotional processes, they struggled to reconcile earlier concepts of physician identities with newly developing ones and often reluctantly adopted suboptimal professional behaviours and attitudes. Improved education about GoC discussions is necessary for patient care and may represent concrete and specific opportunities to influence students' PIF positively.

A National Survey of Undergraduate Clinical Education in Internal Medicine.

In the present milieu of rapid innovation in undergraduate medical education at US medical schools, the current structure and composition of clinical education in Internal Medicine (IM) is not clear. To describe the current composition of undergraduate clinical education structure in IM. National annual Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) cross-sectional survey. One hundred twenty-nine clerkship directors at all Liaison Committee on Medical Education accredited US medical schools with CDIM membership as of September 1, 2017. IM core clerkship and post-core clerkship structure descriptions, including duration, educational models, inpatient experiences, ambulatory experiences, and requirements. The survey response rate was 83% (107/129). The majority of schools utilized one core IM clerkship model (67%) and continued to use a traditional block model for a majority of their students (84%). Overall 26% employed a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship model and 14% employed a shared block model for some students. The mean inpatient duration was 7.0 ± 1.7weeks (range 3-11weeks) and 94% of clerkships stipulated that students spend some inpatient time on general medicine. IM-specific ambulatory experiences were not required for students in 65% of IM core clerkship models. Overall 75% of schools did not require an advanced IM clinical experience after the core clerkship; however, 66% of schools reported a high percentage of students (> 40%) electing to take an IM sub-internship. About half of schools (48%) did not require overnight call or night float during the clinical IM sub-internship. Although there are diverse core IM clerkship models, the majority of IM core clerkships are still traditional block models. The mean inpatient duration is 7weeks and 65% of IM core clerkship models did not require IM-specific ambulatory education.

Novel examination for evaluating medical student clinical reasoning: reliability and association with patients seen.

Medical students learn clinical reasoning, in part, through patient care. Although the numbers of patients seen is associated with knowledge examination scores, studies have not demonstrated an association between patient problems and an assessment of clinical reasoning. To examine the reliability of a clinical reasoning examination and investigate whether there was association between internal medicine core clerkship students' performance on this examination and the number of patients they saw with matching problems during their internal medicine clerkship. Students on the core internal medicine clerkship at the Uniformed Services University students log 11 core patient problems based on the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine curriculum. On a final clerkship examination (Multistep), students watch a scripted video encounter between physician and patient actors that assesses three sequential steps in clinical reasoning: Step One focuses on history and physical examination; Step Two, students write a problem list after viewing additional clinical findings; Step Three, students complete a prioritized differential diagnosis and treatment plan. Each Multistep examination has three different cases. For graduating classes 2010-2012 (n = 497), we matched the number of patients seen with the problem most represented by the Multistep cases (epigastric pain, generalized edema, monoarticular arthritis, angina, syncope, pleuritic chest pain). We report two-way Pearson correlations between the number of patients students reported with similar problems and the student's percent score on: Step One, Step Two, Step Three, and Overall Test. Multistep reliability: Step 1, 0.6 to 0.8; Step 2, 0.41 to 0.65; Step 3, 0.53 to 0.78; Overall examination (3 cases): 0.74 to 0.83. For three problems, the number of patients seen had small to modest correlations with the Multistep Examination of Analytic Ability total score (r = 0.27 for pleuritic pain, p < 0.05, n = 81 patients; r = 0.14 for epigastric pain, p < 0.05, n = 324 patients; r = 0.19 for generalized edema, p < 0.05, n = 118 patients). DISCUSSION or Although a reliable assessment, student performance on a clinical reasoning examination was weakly associated with the numbers of patients seen with similar problems. This may be as a result of transfer of knowledge between clinical and examination settings, the complexity of clinical reasoning, or the limits of reliability with patient logs and the Multistep.

Comparing a Script Concordance Examination to a Multiple-Choice Examination on a Core Internal Medicine Clerkship

Background: Script concordance (SC) questions, in which a learner is given a brief clinical scenario then asked if additional information makes one hypothesis more or less likely, with answers compared to a panel of experts, are designed to reflect a learner's clinical reasoning. Purpose: The purpose is to compare reliability, validity, and learner satisfaction between a three-option modified SC examination to a multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination among medical students during a 3rd-year internal medicine clerkship, to compare reliability and learner satisfaction of SC between medical students and a convenience sample of house staff, and to compare learner satisfaction with SC between 1st- and 4th-quarter medical students. Methods: Using a prospective cohort design, we compared the reliability of 20-item SC and MCQ examinations, sequentially administered on the same day. To measure validity, scores were compared to scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject examination in medicine and to a clinical performance measure. SC and MCQ were also administered to a convenience sample of internal medicine house staff. Medical student and house staff were anonymously surveyed regarding satisfaction with the examinations. Results: There were 163 students who completed the examinations. With students, the initial reliability of the SC was half that of MCQ (KR20 0.19 vs. 0.41), but with house staff (n = 15), reliability was the same (KR20 = 0.52 for both examinations). SC performance correlated with student clinical performance, whereas MCQ did not (r = .22, p = .005 vs. .11, p = .159). Students reported that SC questions were no more difficult and were answered more quickly than MCQ questions. Both exams were considered easier than NBME, and all 3 were considered equally fair. More students preferred MCQ over SC (55.8% vs. 18.0%), whereas house staff preferred SC (46% vs. 23%; p = .03). Conclusions: This SC examination was feasible and was more valid than the MCQ examination because of better correlation with clinical performance, despite being initially less reliable and less preferred by students. SC was more reliable and preferred when administered to house staff.

Interprofessional Education in the Internal Medicine Clerkship: Results From a National Survey

Growing data support interprofessional teams as an important part of medical education. This study describes attitudes, barriers, and practices regarding interprofessional education (IPE) in internal medicine (IM) clerkships in the United States and Canada. In 2009, a section on IPE was included on the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine annual survey. This section contained 23 multiple-choice questions exploring both core and subinternship experiences. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Rasch analysis. Sixty-nine of 107 institutional members responded to the survey (64% response rate). Approximately 68% of responding clerkship directors believed that IPE is important to the practice of IM. However, only 57% believed that it should become a part of the undergraduate clinical curriculum. The three most significant barriers to IPE in the IM clerkship were scheduling alignment, time in the existing curriculum, and resources in time and money. Although more than half of respondents felt IPE should be included in the clinical curriculum, 81% indicated that there was no formal curriculum on IPE in their core IM clerkship, and 84% indicated that there was no formal curriculum during IM subinternship rotations at their institution. There is limited penetration of IPE into one of the foundational clinical training episodes for medical students in Liaison Committee for Medical Education-accredited schools. This may be related to misperceptions of the relative value of these experiences and limitations of curricular time. Learning in and from successful models of interprofessional teams in clinical practice may help overcome these barriers.

Internal Medicine Core Clerkships Experience With Core Problem Lists: Results From a National Survey of Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine

Background: The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) requires clinical clerkships in North American Medical Schools to define and monitor core problems and clinical conditions for medical students and adjust the clerkships to ensure that all students meet those objectives at all instructional sites. Clinical clerkships usually use medical student generated logbooks to meet these requirements. It is not clear what clinical clerkship directors are doing to meet these standards. Purpose: To determine how internal medicine clerkship directors develop problem lists, whether and how they verify student problem list entry, and how missed core problems are covered. Methods: The Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) organization conducts an annual survey of its institutional members (one member per medical school). In 2007, 75% of North American medical schools (82 of 110) responded to the survey, which included questions on core problem lists and medical student logbooks. Results: Ninety-four percent of responding medical schools had a core problem list for the core internal medicine clerkship. Most schools used an electronic logbook and verified student exposure to core problems (76%). The clerkship director usually did the verification (63%). Clerkships offered a variety of options to remedy lack of exposure to core problems and usually offered more than one option. Conclusions: Clerkship directors in internal medicine develop, verify, and ensure exposure to core problems in internal medicine. Most clerkship directors used the CDIM recommended core problem list as a basis for their local core problem list. Emerging computer-assisted learning options may simplify clerkship adjustments for lack of exposure to core problems. It appears that clerkship directors are using logbooks appropriately to meet the LCME charge to monitor core problems and clinical conditions.

Factors Associated With Medical Students' Career Choices Regarding Internal Medicine

Shortfalls in the US physician workforce are anticipated as the population ages and medical students' interest in careers in internal medicine (IM) has declined (particularly general IM, the primary specialty serving older adults). The factors influencing current students' career choices regarding IM are unclear. To describe medical students' career decision making regarding IM and to identify modifiable factors related to this decision making. Web-based cross-sectional survey of 1177 fourth-year medical students (82% response rate) at 11 US medical schools in spring 2007. Demographics, debt, educational experiences, and number who chose or considered IM careers were measured. Factor analysis was performed to assess influences on career chosen. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess independent association of variables with IM career choice. Of 1177 respondents, 274 (23.2%) planned careers in IM, including 24 (2.0%) in general IM. Only 228 (19.4%) responded that their core IM clerkship made a career in general IM seem more attractive, whereas 574 (48.8%) responded that it made a career in subspecialty IM more attractive. Three factors influenced career choice regarding IM: educational experiences in IM, the nature of patient care in IM, and lifestyle. Students were more likely to pursue careers in IM if they were male (odds ratio [OR] 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-2.56), were attending a private school (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.26-2.83), were favorably impressed with their educational experience in IM (OR, 4.57; 95% CI, 3.01-6.93), reported favorable feelings about caring for IM patients (OR, 8.72; 95% CI, 6.03-12.62), or reported a favorable impression of internists' lifestyle (OR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.39-2.87). Medical students valued the teaching during IM clerkships but expressed serious reservations about IM as a career. Students who reported more favorable impressions of the patients cared for by internists, the IM practice environment, and internists' lifestyle were more likely to pursue a career in IM.

Medical School Policies Regarding Struggling Medical Students During the Internal Medicine Clerkships: Results of a National Survey

To characterize policies of medical schools regarding struggling medical students: those at risk of receiving a grade of less than pass because of problems with knowledge, clinical skills, professionalism, or a combination of these items. The annual 2006 Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) survey included a section about how clerkship directors handle struggling third- and fourth-year medical students. The section contained 14 structured questions and five items requiring free-text responses. The items explored both core and fourth-year clerkship perspectives. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Eighty-three of the 110 (76%) institutional members responded. Respondents identified 0% to 15% of students as struggling each year during the required core internal medicine clerkship and 0% to 11% of fourth-year students. Two thirds of respondents present struggling students to a medical school promotion committee. More than half (64%) of respondents feel they should share information about struggling students with other clerkship directors, and 51% of respondents do share information. Clerkship directors are divided about whether it is in students' best interests to disclose information about them with current teachers or other clerkship directors. Only 14% of institutions have written policies about sharing information, and 57% of clerkship directors design remediation plans for struggling students. Internal medicine clerkship directors handle struggling students in widely varying ways. Many clerkship directors share information about struggling students; opinions are divided about whether this is appropriate. Future research is needed to determine the effectiveness of identifying and remediating struggling students and to determine effective remediation plans.

Third-Year Medical Students??? Experiences with Dying Patients during the Internal Medicine Clerkship: A Qualitative Study of the Informal Curriculum

To explore third-year medical students' experiences with death and dying patients during the first internal medicine clerkship. In August 2002, through purposeful sampling, the authors targeted for open-ended interviews 32 third-year medical students at the University of California, San Francisco in the first core internal medicine clerkship. Interviews averaged 45 minutes in length and were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Twenty-eight (87.5%) students participated in interviews. All students encountered death or dying patients, and most cared directly for at least one dying patient. Students' relationships with patients were characterized by attachment, empathy, and advocacy. Students valued preparation by preclinical end-of-life (EOL) courses, but assigned greater value to patient care experiences guided by teams that acknowledged deaths, role-modeled EOL care, and respected students' participation in patient care. Clerkship experiences in EOL care affected students' developing professional identities by affording opportunities to manage strong emotions, understand the challenges of transitioning to residency, and gain a sense of self-efficacy as future physicians providing EOL care. Third-year medical students' experiences with dying patients affect their skills and attitudes in EOL care, as well as the emergence of their professional identities. The behaviors and attitudes modeled by residents and attendings during the clerkships can strongly influence students' perceptions of and self-efficacy in EOL care. Further research and interventions into how residents and attendings model responses to death in the clinical clerkship may suggest strategies not only for EOL training, but also for mentoring professional development.

A Simulator-Based Curriculum to Promote Comparative and Reflective Analysis in an Internal Medicine Clerkship

To develop and evaluate a novel curricular framework using high-fidelity patient simulation in an internal medicine clerkship. Two 90-minute simulator-based modules of ischemic heart failure and hypoxemic respiratory failure were developed from adult and experiential learning principles. Three short simulated cases focused on each pathophysiologic concept were intermixed with two short teaching sessions and a period of comparative analysis. In 2002-03, the program was piloted among 90 third-year medical students at Harvard Medical School assigned to complete their core internal medicine clerk-ship. An entry and two follow-up questionnaires were used to assess the process. The instructors conducted quantitative and qualitative data analysis and directly observed students' performances. Instructors consistently noted students' ability to appropriately extract a history, perform a basic examination, and order appropriate tests. However, students demonstrated repeated errors in the application of knowledge to the clinical circumstance. A final comparative discussion was essential to new learning and students recognized this integrative analysis as the most critical component of the exercise. Every student reported the experience as useful. Ninety-four percent (n = 85) felt the simulator should become a routine part of the clerkship and 68% (n = 71) desired three or more sessions during their internal medicine clerkship. Simulator-based curricular modules are feasible in an internal medicine clerkship and can successfully complement existing curricula. By comparing similar cases in a compressed time frame, students may achieve enhanced efficiencies in reflective and meta-cognitive learning. As medical simulation is increasingly available, such a curriculum may represent valuable additions to the internal medicine educational environment.

Computerized literature searching on a core internal medicine clerkship

The use, acceptance, and benefits of computerized literature searching by medical students during an internal medicine clerkship were evaluated. A year‐long prospective comparison of two student groups was performed in a community‐based medical school with five clinical sites. All third‐year medical students were required to supply two nontextbook references for each assigned patient evaluation during their core medicine clerkship. All 37 students enrolled in the second and fourth quarters of the academic year (Group 1) used the computer bibliographic retrieval service BRS Colleague® through five local modern‐equipped terminals to obtain their references. The 40 students in the first and third quarters (Group 2, controls) obtained their references without doing computer searches themselves. All Group 1 students felt capable of using the system, and 96% felt the service was helpful to their clinical learning. When compared with the control group, students using the computer search spent less time looking f...