title: Feedback on oral presentations during pediatric clerkships: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure the effects of participating in structured oral presentation evaluation sessions early in pediatric clerkships on students' subsequent presentations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a single-blind, 3-arm, cluster randomized controlled trial during pediatric clerkships at Boston University School of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Blocks of students at each school were randomly assigned to experience either (1) no formal presentation feedback (control) or a small-group presentation feedback session early in pediatric clerkships in which students gave live presentations and received feedback from faculty who rated their presentations by using a (2) single-item (simple) or (3) 18-item (detailed) evaluation form. At the clerkship end, overall quality of subjects' presentations was rated by faculty blinded to randomization status, and subjects reported whether their presentations had improved. Analyses included multivariable linear and logistic regressions clustered on clerkship block that controlled for medical school.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 476 participants were evenly divided into the 3 arms, which had similar characteristics. Compared with controls, presentation quality was significantly associated with participating in detailed (coefficient: 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.07-0.69) but not simple (coefficient: 0.16; 95% CI: -0.12-0.43) feedback sessions. Similarly, student self-report of presentation improvement was significantly associated with participating in detailed (odds ratio: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.11-4.18] but not simple (odds ratio: 1.89; 95% CI: 0.91-3.93) feedback sessions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Small-group presentation feedback sessions led by faculty using a detailed evaluation form resulted in clerkship students delivering oral presentations of higher quality compared with controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; colin.sox@bmc.org.
authors.forename: Colin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sox
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio;
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dell
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon;
authors.forename: Carrie A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Phillipi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts;
authors.forename: Howard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island; and.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Linda O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Lewin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003142:Communication; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: medical education; oral presentation; randomized controlled trial