From Fly on the Wall to Future Colleagues: Best Practice Recommendations for Medical Student Shadowing Programs.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Physician shadowing is a core component of early medical education, offering initial clinical exposure.
• Existing guidance for shadowing predominantly targets learners, not supervisors.
• The emergency department (ED) presents unique challenges for effective and safe shadowing due to patient acuity and workflow demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop consensus-based best practice recommendations for emergency department (ED) faculty supervising medical student shadowing.
• To address the gap in guidance for physicians overseeing shadowing experiences.

Main Methods:

• A modified Delphi study was employed, utilizing an online survey to reach consensus among panelists.
• Ten experienced emergency medicine educators participated in four iterative rounds of anonymous voting and feedback.
• Initial proposals were refined from 70 to 54 unique recommendations based on consensus thresholds.

Main Results:

• Ten best practice recommendations were established through consensus.
• Key themes include structured scheduling, clear communication of expectations, limiting concurrent learners, and assessing student backgrounds.
• Recommendations also cover assigning preceptors, restricting direct patient care, team integration, fostering reflection, managing workflow lulls, and modeling professionalism.

Conclusions:

• The consensus-driven recommendations offer practical guidance for supervising medical student shadowing in the ED.
• Standardizing these practices can create structured learning experiences, boost engagement, and ensure safety.
• Further research is needed to assess implementation and cross-specialty applicability.