BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES We sought to validate the family medicine shelf examination by determining whether correlations exist between the US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) family medicine final examination (FMF) scores and the USMLE Step 1 or Step 2 scores. We also evaluated for correlations between the family medicine clinical evaluation scores (CES), final clerkship grades, and all o...

PURPOSE To assess the feasibility of Direct Observation of Clinical Skills (DOCS), a program for formative assessment of students' clinical skills during a medicine clerkship and to determine relationships between DOCS measures and other clinical performance measures. METHOD From August, 2004 through June, 2005, Medicine Clerks assigned to the primary on-campus clinical site were asked to par...

The core psychiatry clerkship, typically held during the third year of medical school, serves as the primary opportunity for medical students to gain exposure to the clinical practice of psychiatry. Multiple studies have evaluated the effect that the clerkship has on students, and a clear body of evidence indicates that the clerkship influences students’ attitudes towards the field of psychiatr...

Background After introduction of clinical skills assessment in the Korean Medical Licensing Examination, medical schools have reinforced both experiential learning with real patients and preparatory programs. This study was conducted to investigate whether a clinical practice examination (CPX) preparation program improves students' CPX score in terms of case specificity. Methods One hundred a...

BACKGROUND It is not clear that teaching specific history taking, physical examination and patient teaching techniques to medical students results in durable behavioural changes. We used a quasi-experimental design that approximated a randomized double blinded trial to examine whether a Participatory Decision-Making (PDM) educational module taught in a clerkship improves performance on a Simula...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare the performance of students completing an 8-week versus a 6-week surgery clerkship on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) clinical science surgery examination. METHODS One hundred fifteen students from the 8-week clerkship and 99 from the 6-week clerkship were included. Performan...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Evidence suggests that rural experiences can positively influence students' preferences for rural practice. This study examined changes in students' perceptions toward rural primary care following a required rural clerkship. METHODS Third-year students completed pre- and post-clerkship questionnaire items assessing their beliefs about primary care physicians who prac...

To provide patient-centered care, physicians must be well trained in the concepts and methods of humanistic practice. Educational efforts to promote humanism may help to overcome the counter-training of the hidden medical school curriculum, responsible for a decline in empathy and idealism over the course of medical training. The online component of the clerkship in family medicine at Boston Un...

Medical students must complete a clerkship program in their fourth year. Individual students have preferences for the clerkships to which they are assigned. However, individual hospitals also have capacities on how many students may be assigned to each clerkship. The problem of scheduling medical students to clerkships is formalized. The problem is then placed in a theoretical framework, and th...