A Multidisciplinary ICU Clerkship Curriculum Incorporating Simulation and Competency-Based Education: Design,...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Critical Care Medicine
• Undergraduate Medical Training

Background:

• Critical care competencies are vital across medical specialties.
• Structured undergraduate medical education (UME) in critical care is inconsistent.
• A modular ICU clerkship was developed to address these gaps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, implement, and evaluate a novel four-week modular ICU clerkship.
• To enhance undergraduate critical care education using a multidisciplinary approach.
• To assess the impact of curriculum redesign on student learning experiences.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a multidisciplinary ICU clerkship with clinical immersion, didactics, simulation, and debriefing.
• Aligned objectives with critical care competencies and AAMC Entrustable Professional Activities.
• Compared student evaluation ratings before and after curriculum redesign using statistical tests.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements observed in clerkship structure and organization post-redesign (p < 0.001).
• Modest increases in clinical skills and knowledge, which remained consistently high.
• Overall clerkship ratings improved from 4.00 to 4.51 (p=0.002), with high simulation ratings.

Conclusions:

• A modular ICU clerkship is feasible and adaptable for critical care education.
• Curricular redesign effectively enhanced structural and organizational aspects of the clerkship.
• The redesigned clerkship improves learner experience while preserving high educational value.