A student-initiated interactive course as a model for teaching reproductive health.
OBJECTIVE
Medical students at Stanford University established an elective lecture series in reproductive health to teach 10 women's health competencies to preclinical medical students. In the second year, student organizers implemented interactive components to improve the number of competencies students learned.


METHODS
We surveyed students from the first two years this series was offered to assess their preferred modes of learning and the number of competencies students perceived they had gained. Students were asked to self-assess their learning of key reproductive health competencies taught in the course.


RESULTS
We identified 4 factors associated with statistically significant improvements in the number of competencies students learned, according to self-assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
Students who felt they learned more competencies agreed that they were active participants in the course, that their preferred style of learning was matched by the course, and that they had received academic credit for the course. Furthermore, students who attended an innovative reproductive health fair organized by students participating in the course perceived that they had learned significantly more competencies. We expect these self-assessed improvements to correlate with increased demonstration of the competencies as students progress to the clinical level.
Meites
Elissa
E
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Research and Policy, and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5317, USA.
Wagner
Joanna L
JL
Choy
Michael K w
MK
Polan
Mary Lake
ML
D002140:California; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006277:Health Fairs; D006801:Humans; D017145:Models, Educational; D011361:Professional Competence; D011380:Programmed Instructions as Topic; D018456:Reproductive Medicine / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health