Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum Research Articles

Integrating Radiation Oncology Into Undergraduate Medical Education

Cancer is one of the most important public health problems. However, medical education has not advanced at the same rate when it comes to cancer education. Currently, the United States Medical Licensing Examination subject examinations do not cover radiation oncology, prevention, and survivorship planning in its assessment model. Incorporating medical oncology and radiation oncology training into the undergraduate medical education curriculum can have a significant benefit in training future physicians. In this paper, we review current literature and propose some ideas that can help incorporate oncology, and specifically radiation oncology, into undergraduate medical education.

Problem-Based Learning Curriculum and Process Assessment System for the Undergraduate Competency-Based Medical Education

This article aims to provide an overview of problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum for integrating basic sciences subjects and clinical sciences with early clinical exposure. This approach provides the opportunity to teach the basic science subjects in context to medical students. PBL promotes self-directed learning skills among the medical students and facilitation skills among the faculty. PBL can also be used to observe, assess, and foster the noncognitive competencies among the medical students for which process assessment system must be established. The use of process assessment to observe, assess, and improve the preparation, participation, self-directed learning, critical thinking, leadership, communication, group skills and reflective competencies among medical students in Nepal for the last 10 years reveals that it can be implemented with the proper planning and training of faculty for this new system. PBL and process assessment system can serve to complement the competency-based medical education in the basic sciences phase of the undergraduate medical education curriculum.

Developing and validating an opioid overdose prevention and response curriculum for undergraduate medical education

Introduction: As rates of overdose and substance use disorders (SUDs) increase, medical schools are starting to incorporate more content on SUDs and harm reduction in undergraduate medical education (UME). Initial data suggest these additions may improve medical student knowledge and attitudes toward patients with SUDs; however, there is no standard curriculum. Methods: This project uses a six-step approach to UME curricular development to identify needs and goals regarding SUDs and opioid overdose at a large single-campus medical school in the United States. We first developed and delivered a pilot curriculum to a small group of medical students. Pilot results and a larger survey led to implementing a one-hour Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response (OOPR) Training for first-year students. Effects of training were tracked using baseline and post-training surveys examining knowledge and attitudes toward opioid overdose and patients with SUDs. Results: Needs assessment indicated desire and need for training. The pilot study (N = 66) resulted in significantly improved knowledge regarding opioid overdose; 100% of students enjoyed training and believed others should receive it. The larger replication study surveyed all incoming students (N = 266) to gauge initial knowledge and experiences with these topics. Results prompted enhancement of the OOPR Training curriculum, which was delivered to half of the first-year class. Post-training survey results replicated the pilot study findings. The majority (95.2%) of students enjoyed training and 98.4% believed all students should receive it. Conclusion: Delivering a thorough curriculum on SUDs and harm reduction in UME is critical. Although many schools are implementing training, there is no standard curriculum. We outline a low-resource training intervention for OOPR. Our findings identified key features to include in these UME curricula. This approach provides a replicable template for schools seeking to develop brief educational interventions and identify essential content for curricula in SUDs and harm reduction.

A Novel Curriculum Assessment Tool, Based on AAMC Competencies, to Improve Medical Education About Sexual and Gender Minority Populations.

Medical education aspires to mitigate bias in future professionals by providing robust curricula that include perspectives of and practices for caring for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations; however, implementation of these ideals remains challenging. Medical school leaders motivated to improve curricula on caring for SGM populations must survey their school's current curricula to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. In 2014, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published 30 SGM competencies that curricula should address. Here the authors describe the development of a tool to efficiently assess whether an undergraduate medical education (UME) curriculum adequately incorporates the AAMC-recommended SGM competencies. In 2018, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) convened a group of faculty and students with experience and expertise regarding SGM health. The group distilled the 30 AAMC competencies into 12 SGM topic areas that should be addressed in any UME curriculum, and they developed a curriculum assessment tool to evaluate the presence and timing of these topic areas in the BUSM curriculum. This tool was distributed to all course and clerkship directors responsible for the required UME curriculum at BUSM to investigate where these topic areas are addressed (May-June 2019). The curriculum assessment tool identified several strengths in the preclerkship and clerkship curricula, including faculty willingness and enthusiasm to include SGM content. The assessment tool also revealed that some SGM topic areas are underrepresented in the BUSM curriculum, particularly during clerkships. The curriculum assessment tool described here is a straightforward, standardized instrument to map SGM topic areas within any UME curriculum. It is designed to be comprehensible by individuals who are not familiar with SGM health. The tool minimizes barriers to medical curricular change by providing a mechanism to assess and understand how SGM health is incorporated into existing curricula.

USMLE Step-1 is Going to Pass/Fail, Now What Do We Do?

The Winter 2021 Webinar Audio Series (WAS) of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), titled, “USMLE Step-1 is Going to Pass/Fail, Now what do we do?” was broadcast live to audiences at academic institutions worldwide in five weekly webinars from January 7, 2021, to February 4, 2021. Recognized experts from various stakeholder groups discussed the impact of the decision to score the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 exam Pass/Fail (P/F). The speakers identified challenges to their respective programs and explored creative ways to address potential consequences. Sessions included the perspectives of allopathic and osteopathic residency program directors, basic science faculty, undergraduate medical education curriculum designers, clinical educators, and programs for international medical students matriculating to the United States. On February 25, 2021, a bonus session provided cutting-edge updates from a co-chair of the Coalition for Physician Accountability Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) to Graduate Medical Education (GME) Review Committee (UGRC).

Attitudes and perceptions of final year medical students on sexual history taking from patients in Ogun state, Southwestern Nigeria

Background: An important aspect of sexual health is the ability to take a sexual history. Previous studies have shown that most medical students believed that sexual history taking is an important skill for future practice. Still, a majority reported inadequate, inconsistent or no training in this area.Objectives: To assess the attitudes of final year medical students on sexual history taking and perceptions of the training they received in medical schoolDesign: A cross-sectional study using an online surveyParticipants: Consented and conveniently sampled 100 final year medical students.Results: The overall response rate was 74.6%, and the mean age of the respondents was 24.1±2.9 years. The majority (97%) of the students believed it is important for doctors to know how to take a sexual history. Still, only 31% admitted to finding it easy, with 57% of the students admitted to being comfortable taking a sexual history from adult patients. While 70% had exposure on simulated patients, just 54% have observed doctors taking sexual history during clinical rotations, mostly in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (97%) and Urology (60%) postings.Conclusions: Many final year medical students are interested in and appreciated the importance of sexual history taking, but they are not well grounded in many aspects of the topic. Despite the importance of sexual health, many students did not have enough exposure and training on the topic while still in medical schools. There is thus a need for a review of the curriculum of undergraduate medical education in Nigeria.

The Impact of Educational Resources and Perceived Preparedness on Medical Education Performance

IntroductionUndergraduate medical education has evolved necessarily with the increasing utilization of technology and the availability of ancillary resources developed for medical students. However, medical educational resources are expensive and there have been few studies validating these resources for their ability to significantly modify student exam performance.MethodsA post-exam survey was devised to evaluate medical students for resource usage, student-perceived preparedness, and exam performance.ResultsStudents who felt more prepared for exams performed better than students who felt less prepared (p = .017). Students who watched didactic lectures online and those who utilized peer-to-peer tutoring outperformed students who did not use these resources (p = .035, p = .008). Analyses of the data show that none of the purchased resources utilized significantly improved student exam performance. The majority of students used between six and eight resources for exam preparation. There may be a slightly negative association with the quantity of resources used and exam scores (p = .18).DiscussionContrary to traditional confidence studies that correlate overconfidence with underperformance, medical students who reported feeling more prepared for exams performed better than students who felt less prepared.ConclusionMedical students may have a more complete grasp of their knowledge base and deficits, which may enable a more accurate match between exam expectations and academic performance. This post-exam survey method can be customized and applied to evaluate resource utility as it pertains to specific undergraduate medical education curricula at individual institutions.

Recognizing the Role of Language in the Hidden Curriculum of Undergraduate Medical Education: Implications for Equity in Medical Training.

Medical education involves a transition from "outsider" to "insider" status, which entails both rigorous formal training and an inculturation of values and norms via a hidden curriculum. Within this transition, the ability to "talk the talk" designates an individual as an insider, and learning to talk this talk is a key component of professional socialization. This Article uses the framework of "patterns of medical language" to explore the role of language in the hidden curriculum of medical education, exploring how students must learn to recognize and participate fluently within patterns of medical language to be acknowledged and evaluated as competent trainees. The authors illustrate this by reframing the Association of American Medical Colleges' Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency as a series of overlapping patterns of medical language that students are expected to master before residency. The authors propose that many of these patterns of medical language are learned through trial and error, taught via a hidden curriculum rather than through explicit instruction. Medical students come from increasingly diverse backgrounds and therefore begin medical training further from or closer to insider status. Thus, evaluative practices based on patterns of medical language, which are not explicitly taught, may exacerbate and perpetuate existing inequities in medical education. This Article aims to bring awareness to the importance of medical language within the hidden curriculum of medical education, to the role of medical language as a marker of insider status, and to the centrality of medical language in evaluative practices. The authors conclude by offering possible approaches to ameliorate the inequities that may exist due to current evaluative practices.

Telemedicine curriculum in undergraduate medical education: a systematic search and review.

The number of patient-doctor appointments carried out using telemedicine has surpassed in-person appointments. In spite of this, it is unclear that telemedicine curricula in undergraduate medical education reflect the real importance by means of the effectiveness of these approaches. We aimed to systematically search and review the studies that are on undergraduate telemedicine curricula. We searched the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus using the keywords such as telemedicine, medical education, and curriculum. Our search was limited to publication dates between January 1, 2000, and February 1, 2020. We elicited the information of the curricula as to their countries, participants, aims or objectives, teaching methods, and evaluation of effectiveness. We also evaluated the quality of the studies using the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Appraisal and Review Instrument. Out of 461 studies, seven articles were selected based on selection criteria for further review. The studies were mostly from the USA. The participant numbers were between seven and 268. There were several modes of delivery but lectures and patient encounters were used mostly. In four studies, the effectiveness was evaluated only by using satisfaction surveys, and the results were satisfactory. A study reported the acquisition and application of skills as a result. There is no well-established telemedicine curriculum in the undergraduate years. The methods vary but the effectiveness of the educational programs does not have a robust evidence base. It is evident that undergraduate medical education needs a curriculum backed by strong scientific data on its effectiveness.

Development of a Multifaceted Antimicrobial Stewardship Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education: The Antibiotic Stewardship, Safety, Utilization, Resistance, and Evaluation (ASSURE) Elective.

To address the growing need for dedicated stewardship training in undergraduate medical education, we developed an antimicrobial stewardship curriculum for medical students with the objectives of increasing expertise in antimicrobial prescribing, introducing antimicrobial stewardship fundamentals, and enhancing comfort with engagement in interprofessional antimicrobial stewardship activities.

812 Competency Based Goals for Sleep Medicine Curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education in India: A Survey

Abstract Introduction Sleep is recognized the world over as very important in health and disease. But there is no articulated curriculum in undergraduate (UG) medical education in India. Whence incorporated, these learning objectives serve as an important bridge across multiple medical faculties like pulmonary medicine, neurology, ENT, psychiatry, and basic sciences. Methods After obtaining informed consent, a questionnaire-based electronic survey was circulated to clinical/non-clinical teaching medical faculties in December 2020. They were asked to prioritize the objectives of the sleep medicine curriculum for the UG medical education program. The objectives were listed under knowledge and skill-based competencies each having 9 and 10 questions respectively, scale rated 1–5. Objectives were enlisted from the previous studies, consensus statements and modified according to the local needs after face to face meetings with faculties involved in UG curriculum development. Results Out of 400 faculty members from different medical schools all over India, 127 had responded. None of the Indian institutions had sleep medicine in their UG curriculum. 112 (88%) members showed their interest to begin a UG program. The suggested sleep medicine curriculum proposes a vertical integration of competency-based goals into the core curriculum with a clinical angle which will require skill and knowledge-oriented modules. Amongst the knowledge-based competency, sleep loss and its health effects (77%) was more preferred than distinguishing sleep in newborns and adults (36%). Whereas in the skill-based competency providing advice on sleep hygiene (71%) was more preferred than sleep disturbances during pregnancy and menopause (33%). When our curriculum gets implemented, it is possible to provide exposure to sleep-related disorders early on for the UG’s. This will invoke their interest and thus serve to bridge the lacunae caused by the shortage of trained sleep specialists in India. Conclusion From our study, the learning objectives of the sleep medicine curriculum have been prioritized and are ready for implementation. The survey has also created awareness and interest amongst the Indian medical teaching faculty. Support (if any):

Design of a foundational sciences curriculum: Applying the ICAP framework to pharmacology education in integrated medical curricula.

Expectations for physicians are rapidly changing, as is the environment in which they will practice. In response, preclerkship medical education curricula are adapting to meet these demands, often by reducing the time for foundational sciences. This descriptive study compares preclerkship pharmacology education curricular practices from seven allopathic medical schools across the United States. We compare factors and practices that affect how pharmacology is integrated into the undergraduate medical education curriculum, including teaching techniques, resources, time allocated to pharmacology teaching, and assessment strategies. We use data from seven medical schools in the United States, along with results from a literature survey, to inform the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and to raise important questions that can guide future research regarding integration of foundational sciences in medical school and health professions’ curricula. In this comparative study, we found that there is significant heterogeneity in the number of hours dedicated to pharmacology in the preclerkship curriculum, whereas there was concordance in the use of active learning pedagogies for content delivery. Applying the ICAP (Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive) Framework for cognitive engagement, our data showed that pharmacology was presented using more highly engaging pedagogies during sessions that are integrated with other foundational sciences. These findings can serve as a model that can be applied beyond pharmacology to other foundational sciences such as genetics, pathology, microbiology, biochemistry, etc.

Medical Education Transformation: Lifestyle Medicine in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education, Fellowship, and Continuing Medical Education.

A gaping void of adequate lifestyle medicine (LM) training exists across the medical education continuum. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine's (ACLM's) undergraduate medical education (UME) Task Force champions the need for widespread integration of LM curriculum in UME by sharing ideas for catalyzing success, lessons learned, and publishing standards and competencies to facilitate curriculum reform. When it comes to graduate medical education and fellowship, the ACLM and American Board of Lifestyle Medicine have made great strides in filling the void, developing both Educational and Experiential Pathways through which physicians may become certified LM Physicians or LM Specialists (LMSs). The Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum meets the Educational Pathway requirements and prepares resident graduates for the LM Physician board certification. LMS is the second tier of LM certification that demonstrates expertise in disease reversal. The LMS Fellowship is an Educational Pathway intent on American Board of Medical Specialties recognition of LM as a new subspecialty in the near future. Finally, continuing medical education and maintenance of certification equip physicians with LM training to support knowledge, application, and certification in LM.

Lists of potential diagnoses that final-year medical students need to consider: a modified Delphi study

BackgroundContrastive learning is known to be effective in teaching medical students how to generate diagnostic hypotheses in clinical reasoning. However, there is no international consensus on lists of diagnostic considerations across different medical disciplines regarding the common signs and symptoms that should be learned as part of the undergraduate medical curriculum. In Japan, the national model core curriculum for undergraduate medical education was revised in 2016, and lists of potential diagnoses for 37 common signs, symptoms, and pathophysiology were introduced into the curriculum. This study aimed to validate the list of items based on expert consensus.MethodsThe authors used a modified Delphi method to develop consensus among a panel of 23 expert physician-teachers in clinical reasoning from across Japan. The panel evaluated the items on a 5-point Likert scale, based on whether a disease should be hypothesized by final-year medical students considering given signs, symptoms, or pathophysiology. They also added other diseases that should be hypothesized. A positive consensus was defined as both a 75% rate of panel agreement and a mean of 4 or higher with a standard deviation of less than 1 on the 5-point scale. The study was conducted between September 2017 and March 2018.ResultsThis modified Delphi study identified 275 basic and 67 essential other than basic items corresponding to the potential diagnoses for 37 common signs, symptoms, and pathophysiology that Japanese medical students should master before graduation.ConclusionsThe lists developed in the study can be useful for teaching and learning how to generate initial hypotheses by encouraging students’ contrastive learning. Although they were focused on the Japanese educational context, the lists and process of validation are generalizable to other countries for building national consensus on the content of medical education curricula.

A behavioural & social sciences core curriculum for Egyptian undergraduate medical education at the Armed Forces College of Medicine.

Introduction: Medical practice is a highly emotionally and behaviorally demanding occupation. Thus, the design of teaching and learning programs in medical colleges need to be modified to adapt such need. Behavioral and social sciences must be implemented to develop competent medical health care workers. Educational programs in Egyptian medical schools are undergoing a gradual shift toward integration, student-centeredness, and early clinical exposure. The Psychiatry Department & Medical Education Department at the Armed Forces College of Medicine in Egypt in collaboration with the Medical Education Department at Michigan state university; developed behavioral & Social science curriculum by adopting ADDIE’s basic five-step model, which includes Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation processes. The identified curriculum has been split into three divisions: social topics related to behavioral medicine, basic psychology, and clinical medicine related to behavioral science. Twenty-six topics were included in these three divisions and were distributed in the seven selected core competencies. The working team expects to include more sociocultural and anthropology topics in the curriculum in the future. Additionally, it is hoped that more time will be allocated for this module, so it would be more possible to include other teaching & assessment methods for developing global understanding of disorders, and practical skills for behavior modification, as well as, encourage students to consider actual treatment strategies in clinical case scenarios. It is also hoped that students could get the chance for early exposure to hospital-based cases. This will motivate the students by allowing them to come into contact with various real-life settings. Context: Medical practice is a highly emotionally and behaviorally demanding occupation. Thus, the design of teaching and learning programs in medical colleges need to be modified to adapt such need. Behavioral and social sciences must be implemented to develop competent medical health care workers. Educational programs in Egyptian medical schools are undergoing a gradual shift toward integration, student-centeredness, and early clinical exposure

Scoping review of implementing a longitudinal curriculum in undergraduate medical education: The wake forest experience

BackgroundHands-on ultrasound experience has become a desirable component for undergraduate medical education (UGME) curricula throughout medical schools in the United States (US) to enhance readiness for future training. Ultrasound integration can be a useful assistive educational method in undergraduate medical education to improve anatomy and physiology skills. Relatively few medical schools have integrated ultrasound experiences formally into their 4-year medical school curriculum due to limitations of a resource intensive set up.MethodsWe undertook a scoping review of published UGME ultrasound curricula integrated into all four years in peer-reviewed as well online literature. In addition, we provide a narrative review of our institutional experience in conceptualization, design and implementation of UGME ultrasound curriculum driven by need to address the fading knowledge in anatomy and physiology concepts beyond pre-clinical years.ResultsIntegrated ultrasound curriculum at WFSOM utilizes focused ultrasonography as a teaching aid for students to gain a more thorough understanding of basic and clinical science concepts taught in the medical school curriculum. We found 18 medical schools with ultrasound curricula published in peer-reviewed literature with a total of 33 ultrasound programs discovered by adding Google search and personal communicationConclusionsThe results of the review and our institutional experience can help inform future educators interested in developing similar curricula in their undergraduate programs. Common standards, milestones and standardized competency-based assessments would be helpful in more widespread application of ultrasound in UGME curricula.

Diversity in Dermatology? An Assessment of Undergraduate Medical Education.

A lack of representation of skin of color (SoC) in dermatology curricula is well-documented across North American medical schools and may present a barrier to equitable and comprehensive undergraduate medical education. This study aims to examine representation in dermatologic educational materials and appreciate a link between bias in dermatologic education and student diagnostic ability and self-rated confidence. The University of Toronto Dermatology Undergraduate Medical Education curriculum was examined for the percentage photographic representation of SoC. A survey of 10 multiple-choice questions was administered to first- and third-year medical students at the University of Toronto to assess diagnostic accuracy and self-rated confidence in diagnosis of 5 common skin lesions in Fitzpatrick skin phototypes (SPT) I-III (white skin) and VI-VI (SoC). The curriculum audit showed that <7% of all images of skin disease were in SoC. Diagnostic accuracy was fair for both first- (77.8% and 85.9%) and third-year (71.3% and 72.4%) cohorts in white skin and SoC, respectively. Students' overall self-rated confidence was significantly greater in white skin when compared to SoC, in both first- (18.75/25 and 17.78/25, respectively) and third-year students (17.75/25 and 15.79/25, respectively) (P = .0002). This preliminary assessment identified a lack of confidence in diagnosing dermatologic conditions in SoC, a finding which may impact health outcomes of patients with SoC. This project is an important first step in diversifying curricular materials to provide comprehensive medical education.

Students' and Faculty Perspectives Toward the Role and Value of the Hidden Curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education: a Qualitative Study from Saudi Arabia.

A hidden medical curriculum is defined as the unwritten, unofficial, and unintended learning that students experience in medical school along with more formal aspects of education. This term describes the behaviours, attitudes, assumptions and beliefs conveyed by teachers, peers and the surrounding environment. However, more research is needed to evaluate its impact on student and faculty interactions in this context. We conducted this qualitative study utilizing focus group and semi-structured interviews of students and faculty to evaluate the perspectives of medical students and faculty toward the role and impact of the hidden medical curriculum in medical education at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data was analysed using open-, axial- and selective-coding using thematic framework analysis. Interviewees consisted of 24 students in years 1-3 during the spring semester 2018-2019, 8 faculty members and 4 teaching assistants. We identified six core themes of hidden curriculum at Alfaisal University (Appendix). Role and behavioural modelling, value-based teaching, interpersonal faculty-student interactions, effects of diversity and socialization, teaching methodologies and hidden curriculum, mentoring and student support systems. Although some of the themes identified in these focus group interviews were similar to previously published studies, the novel themes that we identified were diversity, socialization and interpersonal faculty-student interactions. We conclude that identifying the issues pertaining to hidden curriculum is important for the development of medical students and for nurturing and upholding the values that we want to instil in our future physicians.

Appraisal of the Current Pharmacology Curriculum, Teaching Methodology and Effectiveness in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Student-Centric, Questionnaire-Based Study

Background: Periodic students’ feedback ensures and enhances the effectiveness of the curriculum of medical subject.&#x0D; Objective: This study was designed to obtain students appraisal of the undergraduate pharmacology curriculum and teaching methodology.&#x0D; Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology at Colonel Malek Medical College, Manikganj, Bangladesh from May to June, 2019 for a period of two months. Questionnaire-based data were collected from students of both sexes who had completed 3rd Professional examination. Likert Scale was applied to collect students’ feedback on pharmacology.&#x0D; Results: A total number of 40 students were recruited for this study of which 60.0% students were strongly agreed about organized teaching. About 47.5% students were agreed that the course was appropriate at their level and achieved their goals in Pharmacology. However, 55% of them strongly agreed that teacher provided clear constructive feedback during class. Total 60%, were agreed that the course improved their problem-solving skills. Overall, 55% students were agreed regarding their satisfaction on Pharmacology course delivery and conduction.&#x0D; Conclusion: In conclusion, periodic appraisal from students regarding evaluation of the student-centric undergraduate pharmacology curriculum is vital in developing efficient medical graduates.&#x0D; Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research, January 2021;8(1):30-33

Are Clerks Proficient in the Basic Sciences? Assessment of Third-Year Medical Students' Basic Science Knowledge Prior to and at the Completion of Core Clerkship Rotations.

Basic sciences are a cornerstone of undergraduate medical education (UME), yet research indicates that students' basic science knowledge is not well retained. Many UME curricula are increasing the integration between the basic and clinical sciences with the goal of enhancing students' knowledge levels; however, the impact of clerkship training on students' basic science knowledge remains inconclusive. Thus, using clerkship directors' expectations as framework, we aimed to assess third-year medical students' basic science knowledge during clerkship training and evaluate the influence of clerkship training on their basic science knowledge. Using concepts deemed necessary by clerkship directors, we created a basic science assessment for each clerkship rotation. Assessments were distributed to third-year medical students as a pre- and post-test to assess their basic science knowledge prior to and at the completion of each rotation. On average, students retained ≥ 60% of relevant basic science knowledge from pre-clerkship, and neither clerkship rotation order, nor the basic science discipline being assessed, impacted students' basic science knowledge levels. Post-test data revealed that students, on average, reinforced fundamental concepts during clerkship. Interestingly, even though lower-performing students demonstrated the greatest post-test improvement, they still left each rotation with knowledge deficits compared with their highest-performing peers, suggesting that the clinical experience of clerkship appears to be particularly beneficial for lower-performing students, in regard to enhancing their basic science knowledge. Overall, results indicate that earlier exposure to clinical learning in UME, along with integration of basic science education into clerkship, could promote students' basic science knowledge acquisition and retention.