Teaching Students to Care (Coordinate): A Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Discharge

Background:

• Interdisciplinary rounds are crucial for effective discharge planning.
• Medical students often lack adequate training for these rounds.
• Existing curricula are often too time-consuming or narrowly focused.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a brief curriculum on medical students' participation in interdisciplinary rounds.
• To improve medical students' understanding of discharge planning processes and team roles.

Main Methods:

• A 30-minute curriculum was developed focusing on interdisciplinary rounds.
• A randomized controlled trial was conducted with medical students on internal medicine rotations.
• Outcomes were measured via pre/post surveys and evaluation of round participation.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in students' understanding of rounds and team roles post-curriculum.
• No significant difference in presentation evaluations between groups.
• Intervention group students showed a trend towards better patient question answering (70% vs 57%).

Conclusions:

• A brief, just-in-time curriculum effectively enhanced medical students' knowledge of interdisciplinary discharge rounds.
• The curriculum demonstrated a positive trend in improving students' ability to answer patient-related questions during rounds.
• This training empowers students to contribute effectively to inpatient teams and can be easily integrated into existing programs.