An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay
Introduction: Safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to the prohibition of student rotations outside their home institutions. This resulted in emergency medicine (EM)-bound students having less specialty experience and exposure to outside programs and practice environments, an...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eScholarship Publishing, University of California
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d96r11m |
| _version_ | 1818332459485364224 |
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| author | Stephen Villa Hannah Janeway Kian Preston-Suni Ashley Vuong Ignacio Calles James Murphy Taylor James Jaime Jordan Andrew Grock Natasha Wheaton |
| author_facet | Stephen Villa Hannah Janeway Kian Preston-Suni Ashley Vuong Ignacio Calles James Murphy Taylor James Jaime Jordan Andrew Grock Natasha Wheaton |
| author_sort | Stephen Villa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to the prohibition of student rotations outside their home institutions. This resulted in emergency medicine (EM)-bound students having less specialty experience and exposure to outside programs and practice environments, and fewer opportunities to gain additional Standardized Letters of Evaluation, a cornerstone of the EM residency application. We filled this void by implementing a virtual clerkship. Methods: We created a two-week virtual, fourth-year visiting clerkship focused on advanced medical knowledge topics, social determinants of health, professional development, and professional identity formation. Students completed asynchronous assignments and participated in small group-facilitated didactic sessions. We evaluated the virtual clerkship with pre- and post-medical knowledge tests and evaluative surveys. Results: We hosted 26 senior medical students over two administrations of the same two-week virtual clerkship. Students had a statistically significant improvement on the medical knowledge post-tests compared to pre-tests (71.7% [21.5/30] to 76.3% [22.9/30]). Students reported being exposed to social determinants of health concepts they had not previously been exposed to. Students appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions; networking with other students, residents, and faculty; introduction to novel content regarding social determinants of health; and exposure to future career opportunities. Screen time, technological issues, and mismatch between volume of content and time allotted were identified as potential challenges and areas for improvement. Conclusion: We demonstrate that a virtual EM visiting clerkship is feasible to implement, supports knowledge acquisition, and is perceived as valuable by participants. The benefits seen and challenges faced in the development and implementation of our clerkship can serve to inform future virtual clerkships, which we feel is a complement to traditional visiting clerkships even though in-person clerkships have been re-established. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:36:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-974cb1e68cfb4a83a359e7b86cb488b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1936-9018 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:36:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-974cb1e68cfb4a83a359e7b86cb488b02022-12-21T23:43:47ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine1936-90182022-01-0123110.5811/westjem.2021.11.54118wjem-23-33An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to StayStephen Villa0Hannah Janeway1Kian Preston-Suni2Ashley Vuong3Ignacio Calles4James Murphy5Taylor James6Jaime Jordan7Andrew Grock8Natasha Wheaton9University of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUniversity of California – Los Angeles, Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles, CaliforniaIntroduction: Safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus 2019 pandemic led to the prohibition of student rotations outside their home institutions. This resulted in emergency medicine (EM)-bound students having less specialty experience and exposure to outside programs and practice environments, and fewer opportunities to gain additional Standardized Letters of Evaluation, a cornerstone of the EM residency application. We filled this void by implementing a virtual clerkship. Methods: We created a two-week virtual, fourth-year visiting clerkship focused on advanced medical knowledge topics, social determinants of health, professional development, and professional identity formation. Students completed asynchronous assignments and participated in small group-facilitated didactic sessions. We evaluated the virtual clerkship with pre- and post-medical knowledge tests and evaluative surveys. Results: We hosted 26 senior medical students over two administrations of the same two-week virtual clerkship. Students had a statistically significant improvement on the medical knowledge post-tests compared to pre-tests (71.7% [21.5/30] to 76.3% [22.9/30]). Students reported being exposed to social determinants of health concepts they had not previously been exposed to. Students appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions; networking with other students, residents, and faculty; introduction to novel content regarding social determinants of health; and exposure to future career opportunities. Screen time, technological issues, and mismatch between volume of content and time allotted were identified as potential challenges and areas for improvement. Conclusion: We demonstrate that a virtual EM visiting clerkship is feasible to implement, supports knowledge acquisition, and is perceived as valuable by participants. The benefits seen and challenges faced in the development and implementation of our clerkship can serve to inform future virtual clerkships, which we feel is a complement to traditional visiting clerkships even though in-person clerkships have been re-established.https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d96r11m |
| spellingShingle | Stephen Villa Hannah Janeway Kian Preston-Suni Ashley Vuong Ignacio Calles James Murphy Taylor James Jaime Jordan Andrew Grock Natasha Wheaton An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| title | An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay |
| title_full | An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay |
| title_fullStr | An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay |
| title_short | An Emergency Medicine Virtual Clerkship: Made for COVID, Here to Stay |
| title_sort | emergency medicine virtual clerkship made for covid here to stay |
| url | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d96r11m |
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