Utilization of a self-selection process for clinical rotation assignments: a report on student and clinical...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a self-selection process for clinical rotation on student satisfaction with the program. Chatham University provides its students with the opportunity to self-select all of their clinical rotations from a list of pre-approved sites that have been determined to meet accreditation standards.

A survey was administered to all senior students enrolled in Chatham's Physician Assistant Program to assess their perceptions of the self-selection clerkship process. In addition, a survey was sent to all clinical coordinators nationwide to determine the techniques they used at their programs to assign students to rotation sites.

Of the program's 61 students, 52 participated, yielding an 85.2% response rate. It was determined that students are very satisfied with the process of self-selection of the clinical rotation sites. Students reported that they take greater ownership in their rotations, because they were assigned to the rotations they wanted. Rotation self-selection was also reported as a desired feature of our program. Of 192 clinical coordinators that received the survey, 46 participated, and we found that 57% allow self-selection for elective rotations, and 43% do not allow selection of any rotations.

Despite limitations such as loss of sites and preceptor turnover, the self-selection process is beneficial for both students and clinical coordinators. The process used could be easily adapted to other physician assistant programs.