Assessing the impact of clerkships on the growth of clinical knowledge.

Ann Med

Department of Medicine, Office of Medical Education Research and Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

Published: December 2025

Purpose: This study quantified the impact of clinical clerkships on medical students' disciplinary knowledge using the Comprehensive Clinical Science Examination (CCSE) as a formative assessment tool.

Methods: This study involved 155 third-year medical students in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University who matriculated in 2016. Disciplinary scores on their individual Comprehensive Clinical Science Examination reports were extracted by digitizing the bar charts using image processing techniques. Segmented regression analysis was used to quantify the differences in disciplinary knowledge before, during, and after clerkships in five disciplines: surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology (ob/gyn).

Results: A comparison of the regression intercepts before and during their clerkships revealed that, on average, the participants improved the most in ob/gyn (11.193, .0001), followed by psychiatry (10.005, .001), pediatrics (6.238, .0001), internal medicine (1.638, .30), and improved the least in surgery (-2.332, .10). The regression intercepts of knowledge during their clerkships and after them, on the other hand, suggested that students' average scores improved the most in psychiatry (7.649, .008), followed by ob/gyn (4.175, .06), surgery (4.106, .007), and pediatrics (1.732, .32).

Conclusions: These findings highlight how clerkships influence the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, offering valuable insights for curriculum design and assessment. This approach can be adapted to evaluate the effectiveness of other curricular activities, such as tutoring or intersessions. The results have significant implications for educators revising clerkship content and for students preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 2.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2024.2443812DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

disciplinary knowledge
12
comprehensive clinical
8
clinical science
8
science examination
8
knowledge clerkships
8
internal medicine
8
regression intercepts
8
clerkships
6
knowledge
5
assessing impact
4

Similar Publications

Assessing the impact of clerkships on the growth of clinical knowledge.

Ann Med

December 2025

Department of Medicine, Office of Medical Education Research and Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

Purpose: This study quantified the impact of clinical clerkships on medical students' disciplinary knowledge using the Comprehensive Clinical Science Examination (CCSE) as a formative assessment tool.

Methods: This study involved 155 third-year medical students in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University who matriculated in 2016. Disciplinary scores on their individual Comprehensive Clinical Science Examination reports were extracted by digitizing the bar charts using image processing techniques.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The scope of the emerging field of Ayurvedic-biology visualized thus far is confined to studies on dimensions pertaining to clinical and experimental pharmacology, basic trans-disciplinary science and drug design. However, given the multiple facets of classical Ayurveda knowledge system, its application in the field of organic agriculture perhaps also needs to be urgently explored. The urgency is due to the growing public acceptance of Ayurveda as a preferred clinical choice for well-being and disease management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Pregnant women had a large demand for diagnosis and treatment, but the clinical research was not sufficient, and there were many barriers for pregnant women to participate in clinical research. This study aimed to systematically identify these barriers and facilitators, map them with Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs) to inform the development of interventions promoting pregnant women's involvement in clinical research.

Methods: This was a mixed-methods systematic review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE) is a rare cardiac manifestation in patients with advanced malignancies of the lungs, pancreas, gynecological system, and gastrointestinal tract. It is often confirmed postmortem by histopathological evidence of sterile platelet-fibrin deposits attached to the endocardium, most often on heart valves. To the best of our knowledge, our case is the first to report multiple heart lesions caused by the systemic effect of cholangiocarcinoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Decades of research on personality identified dissociable psychological temperaments. Cloninger's temperament and character theory used a psychobiological approach to differentiate three major dimensions of personality: harm avoidance, novelty seeking, and reward dependence. Previous studies, heretofore, did not examine the correspondence between Cloninger's psychological temperaments and statistically independent data-driven components and how that could enhance the clinical utility of personality temperaments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!