title: A structured teaching curriculum for medical students improves their performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners shelf examination in surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a resident-driven, student taught educational curriculum on the medical students' performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners surgery subject examination (NBME).
  
  
  METHODS
  On daily morning rounds, medical students or the chief resident delivered preassigned brief presentations on 1 or 2 of the 30 common surgical topics selected for the curriculum. An initial assessment of student knowledge and an end-rotation in-house examination (multiple choice question examination) were conducted. The mean scores on the NBME examination were compared between students in teams using this teaching curriculum and those without it.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 57 third-year medical students participated in the study. The mean score on the in-house postclerkship multiple choice question examination was increased by 23.5% (P < .05). The mean NBME scores were significantly higher in the students who underwent the teaching curriculum when compared with their peers who were not exposed to the teaching curriculum (78 vs 72, P < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The implementation of a resident-driven structured teaching curriculum improved performance of medical students on the NBME examination.
authors: Department of Surgery, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA. Electronic address: wirthk@gmail.com.
authors: Keith
authors: K
authors: Wirth
authors: Department of Surgery, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA.
authors: Bethany
authors: B
authors: Malone
authors: Department of Surgery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Turner
authors: Department of Surgery, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Schulze
authors: Department of Surgery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
authors: Warren
authors: W
authors: Widmann
authors: Department of Surgery, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Aliu
authors: A
authors: Sanni
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D013044:Specialty Boards; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Curriculum; Medical student; NBME shelf; National Board of Medical Examiners