Canadian general internal medicine residents' perception of a pedagogical tool of online cases in obstetric medicine.

Background: Sufficient exposure to rarer medical problems around pregnancy is a challenge during short rotations in obstetric medicine (OM). A Canadian research group created online clinical cases, the CanCOM cases, to overcome this.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory study to document the use and perceived utility of the CanCOM cases. 77 residents doing an OM rotation participated in our study. We used a survey to document their perception of CanCOM cases (12 items, 7-point scale), clinical exposure to several conditions (pre and post rotation; 41 items, 7-point scale) and use of the educational tool (1 item, 4-option scale).

Results: CanCOM cases was perceived as an accessible and useful tool. Participants completed a median of 6/20 cases (range 1-20), and highly recommended the cases (6.48 ± 0.73 SD on a 7-point Likert scale).

Conclusion: Despite some technical limitations, CanCOM cases was shown to contribute to clinical exposure to rare but essential medical conditions.