Cutting too deep? Assessing the impact of a shorter surgery clerkship on students' clinical skills and knowledge.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to compare the performance of students completing an 8-week versus a 6-week surgery clerkship on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) clinical science surgery examination.


METHODS
One hundred fifteen students from the 8-week clerkship and 99 from the 6-week clerkship were included. Performance on a summative OSCE was assessed using behaviorally anchored checklists. NBME exams were graded using the NBME's standard scaled scores. Results were compared using 2-tailed, independent-samples, unequal-variance t tests.


RESULTS
Mean OSCE scores for the 8-week and 6-week curricula were not statistically different. Mean NBME scores also did not statistically differ. Six-week students performed significantly better in the specific OSCE subdomains of blood pressure, orthostatic blood pressure, rectal exam, and fecal occult blood test.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall OSCE and NBME exam performance did not differ between 8-week and 6-week surgery clerkship students.
Department of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, 530 First Avenue, HCC 6H, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: navin.bhatia@med.nyu.edu.
Navin D
ND
Bhatia
Department of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, 530 First Avenue, HCC 6H, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Colleen C
CC
Gillespie
Department of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, 530 First Avenue, HCC 6H, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Alexandra J
AJ
Berger
Department of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, 530 First Avenue, HCC 6H, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Mark S
MS
Hochberg
Department of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine, 530 First Avenue, HCC 6H, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Jennifer B
JB
Ogilvie
D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013337:Students, Medical; D013997:Time Factors
National Board of Medical Examiners; Objective structured clinical examination; Surgery clerkship