title: How prepared are your interns to take calls? Results of a multi-institutional study of simulated pages to prepare medical students for surgery internship.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study evaluated a simulated pages curriculum that was developed to assess communication and clinical decision making in medical students and interns.
  
  
  METHODS
  A curriculum consisting of 14 simulated pages was administered across 5 institutions to 150 senior medical students. A 3-case subset was administered to interns who did not participate in the curriculum. Six expert surgeons identified critical fails and set passing scores for case-specific assessments using the Graphical Hofstee Method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants in the curriculum demonstrated superior clinical decision making compared with non-participants across all cases scenarios (P < .01). Average medical student scores for clinical decision making were 46.9%. Global ratings averaged 6.0 for communication and 5.2 for patient care. Passing rates averaged 46%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participation in a mock page curriculum improved performance. The performance of participants based on expert standards set for simulated page performance highlight the need for innovative approaches to improve interns' preparedness to take calls.
authors.affiliation: Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Adam C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Frischknecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, USA. Electronic address: mboehler@siumed.edu.
authors.forename: Margaret L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Boehler
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Cathy J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Schwind
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Division of Critical Care/Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Brunsvold
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Gruppen
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Linnea S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hauge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D003657:Decision Making; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Interdisciplinary communication; Residency training; Simulation; Surgical education