Abstract
Objective: Although key clinical skills have been defined in the Core Entrustable Professional Activities, there is a need to improve medical school curricula with standardized training opportunities and assessments of these skills. Thus, we aimed to develop an innovative curriculum that emphasized critical thinking and clinical skills. We hypothesized that we would be able to observe measurable improvement on assessments of students' critical thinking and clinical skills after the implementation of the new curriculum. Design: Prospective, Quasi-Experimental study with the use of historical controls. Setting: This study took place through the third-year surgical clerkship at the University of Texas Medical Branch at the Galveston, Houston, and Austin, Texas, locations. Participants: A total of 214 students taking the third-year surgical clerkship for the first time during the periods of interest were included. Results: Although the students with traditional curriculum improved 9.5% on a short answer exam from preclerkship to postclerkship completion, the students with new curriculum improved by 40%. Students under the new curriculum performed significantly better on the Objective Structured Clinical Exam; however, their shelf scores were lower. Conclusions: Under this new curriculum and grading system, we demonstrated that students can be incentivized to improve critical thinking and clinical skills, but this needs to be balanced with knowledge-based incentives.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Surgical Education |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Jan 1 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- Clerkship;
- Curriculum;
- Entrustable professional activities
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills
- Medical Knowledge
- Patient Care
- Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
- Professionalism
- Surgery;
- Systems Based Practice
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Education
Cite this
Curricular Innovation in the Surgery Clerkship : Can Assessment Methods Influence Development of Critical Thinking and Clinical Skills? / McClintic, James A.; Snyder, Clifford L.; Brown, Kimberly M.
In: Journal of Surgical Education, 01.01.2018.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Curricular Innovation in the Surgery Clerkship
T2 - Can Assessment Methods Influence Development of Critical Thinking and Clinical Skills?
AU - McClintic, James A.
AU - Snyder, Clifford L.
AU - Brown, Kimberly M.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Objective: Although key clinical skills have been defined in the Core Entrustable Professional Activities, there is a need to improve medical school curricula with standardized training opportunities and assessments of these skills. Thus, we aimed to develop an innovative curriculum that emphasized critical thinking and clinical skills. We hypothesized that we would be able to observe measurable improvement on assessments of students' critical thinking and clinical skills after the implementation of the new curriculum. Design: Prospective, Quasi-Experimental study with the use of historical controls. Setting: This study took place through the third-year surgical clerkship at the University of Texas Medical Branch at the Galveston, Houston, and Austin, Texas, locations. Participants: A total of 214 students taking the third-year surgical clerkship for the first time during the periods of interest were included. Results: Although the students with traditional curriculum improved 9.5% on a short answer exam from preclerkship to postclerkship completion, the students with new curriculum improved by 40%. Students under the new curriculum performed significantly better on the Objective Structured Clinical Exam; however, their shelf scores were lower. Conclusions: Under this new curriculum and grading system, we demonstrated that students can be incentivized to improve critical thinking and clinical skills, but this needs to be balanced with knowledge-based incentives.
AB - Objective: Although key clinical skills have been defined in the Core Entrustable Professional Activities, there is a need to improve medical school curricula with standardized training opportunities and assessments of these skills. Thus, we aimed to develop an innovative curriculum that emphasized critical thinking and clinical skills. We hypothesized that we would be able to observe measurable improvement on assessments of students' critical thinking and clinical skills after the implementation of the new curriculum. Design: Prospective, Quasi-Experimental study with the use of historical controls. Setting: This study took place through the third-year surgical clerkship at the University of Texas Medical Branch at the Galveston, Houston, and Austin, Texas, locations. Participants: A total of 214 students taking the third-year surgical clerkship for the first time during the periods of interest were included. Results: Although the students with traditional curriculum improved 9.5% on a short answer exam from preclerkship to postclerkship completion, the students with new curriculum improved by 40%. Students under the new curriculum performed significantly better on the Objective Structured Clinical Exam; however, their shelf scores were lower. Conclusions: Under this new curriculum and grading system, we demonstrated that students can be incentivized to improve critical thinking and clinical skills, but this needs to be balanced with knowledge-based incentives.
KW - Clerkship;
KW - Curriculum;
KW - Entrustable professional activities
KW - Interpersonal and Communication Skills
KW - Medical Knowledge
KW - Patient Care
KW - Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
KW - Professionalism
KW - Surgery;
KW - Systems Based Practice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043463179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85043463179&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2018.02.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2018.02.012
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Surgical Education
JF - Journal of Surgical Education
SN - 1931-7204
ER -