Does Participation in Obstetrics and Gynecology Subspecialties Improve Clerkship Outcomes?

Objective: The primary objective is to determine if participation in subspecialty rotations during Ob/Gyn core clerkships improves student performance as measured by National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Ob/Gyn clinical science subject exam scores, clinical evaluations, and final clerkship summative grades when compared to students without focused subspecialty time.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of third-year Alpert Medical School of Brown University (AMS) Ob/Gyn core clerkship students at a single institution (Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, RI) from 2012 to 2017. Participation in Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) and/or Gynecologic oncology (Gyn Onc) subspecialty track (a one-week focused experience), NBME Ob/Gyn clinical science subject exam raw score, clinical evaluation score, final clerkship summative grade, and decision to pursue Ob/Gyn as a career were analyzed.

Results: There was no significant difference in NBME scores or final clerkship summative grade when comparing general track students to the subspecialty track. There was a significant difference in the clinical evaluation scores between general track and sub-specialty track students ( < 0.002). Of the students who pursued an Ob/Gyn residency, 75% participated in a subspecialty track.

Conclusion: Exposure to subspecialty fields is not uniform during core clerkships. Our study indicates that using core clerkship time for early subspecialty exposure does not negatively impact student outcomes, and potentially improves clinical evaluations.