Getting Prepared: Strengthening Clerkship Student Readiness for the Operating Room Through a Case Preparation...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• Medical students often lack preparation strategies for their initial surgical clerkship experiences.
• Maximizing educational benefit during operative cases requires effective pre-operative preparation.
• A gap exists in structured guidance for students entering the operating room environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement a case preparation curriculum for medical students.
• To enhance students' ability to prepare for surgical cases and maximize learning.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a novel curriculum compared to standard methods.

Main Methods:

• A needs assessment guided curriculum development using Kern's approach.
• Instructional videos on electronic health record use and pre-case research were created.
• Students were randomized to an in-person preparation session or video-only instruction.

Main Results:

• 71% of students found the instructional videos helpful.
• The in-person session was rated 8/10 for helpfulness.
• Students in the in-person group were more likely to review patient history pre-operatively (100% vs. 67%, p=0.047).

Conclusions:

• The case preparation curriculum was well-received and is now standard practice.
• The curriculum improved students' pre-operative preparation and engagement.
• This model can be adopted by other institutions to enhance surgical clerkship education.