Multifaceted Approach to Evaluation in a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Rotation for Medical Students

Abstract

Study objective: We evaluated whether and to what extent a novel medical student rotation in pediatric and adolescent gynecology (PAG) increases clinical knowledge and skills and meets student needs and expectations.

Design: Constructivist prospective pre-post study and post-rotation student survey SETTING: Academic medical center PARTICIPANTS: Pilot study of 9 medical students, which represents the entire population of those who completed the rotation.

Interventions: Four-week clinical rotation in PAG MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in clinical knowledge were measured by a pre- and post-intervention multiple-choice assessment, and clinical skills were assessed before and after the intervention using entrustable professional activities (EPAs); these data were analyzed with paired Student's t tests. Student evaluations of the rotation were measured through an anonymous, end-of-rotation, closed- and open-ended survey and were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: A statistically significant increase in clinical knowledge was observed post-rotation, with a mean pretest score of 67.0% (standard deviation [SD] 1.7%) and a mean posttest score of 75.2% (SD 3.2%, P = 0.02). Statistically significant increases were observed for all EPAs between the first and final day of the rotation. Eight students who completed the post-rotation survey rated the rotation favorably (5 on a scale from 1 to 5).

Conclusion: A multipronged evaluation showed that a new PAG clinical rotation significantly increased medical students' clinical skills and knowledge. This multifaceted evaluation method provides valuable insights to educators on how best to tailor a rotation to individual learners' levels of clinical skills and knowledge. If comparable rotations could be instituted and similarly evaluated in other medical schools, a noticeable knowledge/skill gap among trainees might be addressed.

Keywords: Course evaluation; Pediatric and adolescent gynecology; Sub-internship; Undergraduate medical education.