title: Evaluating a 'service elective' in clinical teaching for medical students.
abstract: Many medical students wish to begin developing clinical teaching skills before residency. Faculty at the University of California, Irvine developed a 60-hour, longitudinal 'service elective' in teaching skills, which 50 third-year and fourth-year students have completed since 2001. Students learned to enact and rate eight stations of an objective structured teaching examination (OSTE) for generalist resident physicians, broadening this practical training with in-class exercises. To evaluate the elective, structured, written questionnaires were administered. Participating students gave the elective a mean rating of 5.24 on a seven-point Likert-type scale, which fell between 'very good' (5) and 'excellent' (6). Narrative comments showed that students believed the elective--and in particular the OSTE training--prepared them well for teaching as residents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine, Orange, CA 92868-3298, USA. ehmorris@uci.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Ellen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gabbert
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Boker
authors.forename: Bindu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harthill
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002140:California; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D033262:Narration; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011588:Psychology, Educational / Q000193:education*; D012381:Role Playing; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards