Internal Medicine Clerkship Near-Peer "Pre-Rounds Coaching"

The transition to clinical medical education is challenging for third-year medical students as they develop skills necessary for teaching rounds. Fourth-year medical students functioning as "Student Chiefs" may be suited to support this transition through near-peer coaching.

As part of an elective rotation, a fourth-year medical student ("Internal Medicine (IM) Student Chief") provided voluntary coaching sessions for third-year students entering the IM Clerkship prior to their clinical service time. Satisfaction and student perceived benefits of the sessions were assessed using a retrospective pre-post survey. Clerkship student presentations were rated using a validated Patient Presentation Rating Tool. Scores of coached versus non-coached students were compared on the Presentation tool and the summative clerkship OSCE presentation.

Coached students demonstrated significant improvements in comfort and perceived confidence in preparing for and presenting on rounds (p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed between coached and non-coached students in Patient Presentation Rating Tool scores or OSCE presentation scores.

It was feasible to shift the responsibility of teaching pre-rounding preparation to fourth-year Student Chiefs.

Based on the perceived benefit of the program for both clerkship and Student Chiefs, pre-rounds coaching was continued at our institution with additional workflow standardization.