Impact of a Pediatric Clerkship Academic Half Day on Third-Year Medical Students

Abstract

The use of an academic half day (AHD) compared to a traditional noon conference (NC) has been studied in graduate medical education. Despite undergraduate medical education (UGME) use of AHDs there is no data to advocate for this teaching strategy. We explored the impact of an AHD on UGME during the pediatric clerkship rotation. During the 2017-18 academic year, 118 third-year medical students rotated on the pediatric clerkship rotation. Fifty-eight students were placed in the NC format and 60 in the AHD. NBME Subject Examination performance is similar for both groups (0.04 vs 0.23, F(1, 116)=1.31, p > 0.26). Attendance was significantly higher for AHD compared with NC (90.9% vs 73.3%, F(1, 114)=63.27, p<0.05). Additionally, the mean didactic rating is 3.81 for the AHD group, significantly higher than 3.60 for the NC group (F(1, 113)=6.56, p <0.05). The impact of an AHD in UGME appears promising and consistent with experiences of an AHD in graduate medical education on medical knowledge, attendance, and didactic satisfaction.