Residents as Role Models: The Effect of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship on Medical Students' Career Interest

Abstract

IntroductionMany medical students have a poor perception of their obstetrics and gynecology clerkships.1 For the past several years, on the Association of American Medical Colleges graduation questionnaire, fourth-year medical students have consistently rated their experiences during their obstetrics and gynecology clerkship less favorably than their experiences in emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. Students described specific areas for critique, including lack of faculty involvement in teaching, unclear learning objectives, inadequate feedback, limited opportunity for learning history-taking skills, and few experiences in learning physical examination skills. 3,4 Additionally, recruitment of US medical students entering obstetrics and gynecology has declined. In the 1990s, 86% of obstetrics and gynecology residency Dr Odrobina was participating in her residency training during the time of the study and performed this study as her senior residency research project. AbstractBackground Medical students' choice of residency specialty is based in part on their clerkship experience. Postclerkship interest in a particular specialty is associated with the students' choice to pursue a career in that field. But, many medical students have a poor perception of their obstetrics and gynecology clerkships.

Factors influencing the career interest of medical graduates in obstetrics and gynaecology in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey

“…Included in this factor, five items had a higher contribution with coefficients of above 0.6, namely (1) overall learning experience in O&G clerkship, (2) interaction with O&G interns and trainees, (3) interaction with O&G specialists, consultants, and professors, (4) hands-on experience in O&G clerkship, and (5) interaction with midwives and O&G nurses. This result is consistent with overseas findings of the important influence of perception of clerkship, including interaction with O&G staff, on career interest in O&G. 5,6 It emerges that O&G nurses, midwives, interns, trainees, and specialists play a vital role in ensuring a positive O&G clerkship experience.…”

“…The trend of declining interest of medical graduates in pursuing O&G as a career has likewise been observed in overseas studies 5,6 with various factors explored, such as perception of O&G clerkship, [5][6][7] lifestyle, 5,7 gender, 5,7,8 and medicolegal issues. 5,7 Local data on this topic are lacking.…”

“…The reason behind this phenomenon was beyond the scope of this study. Interestingly, Chang et al 6 suggested that male medical students were more likely to increase their level of career interest in O&G during the clerkship. Assuming this finding is applicable to our local students, further study of gender difference in clerkship experience may help improve the imbalanced gender ratio of O&G trainees.…”

“…The third section evaluated the current level of career interest in O&G, the extent of influence of 28 items on career interest in O&G, and the impact on the level of career interest in O&G of five possible changes. The 28 items were potential influential factors that were identified from overseas studies [5][6][7][8] in the following categories: (1) ability, interest, and personality, (2) clerkship experience, (3) influence of family, peers, and seniors, (4) medicolegal issues, (5) nature of the specialty, (6) other experience related to the specialty, (7) career prospects, (8) religion, and (9) training and working conditions. All statistical analyses were performed using PASW Statistics 18, Release Version 18.0.0 (SPSS Inc., 2009, Chicago [IL], US).…”

First-year medical student objective structured clinical exam performance and specialty choice

“…6,7 Still other studies suggest medical student's choice of specialty is influenced by his/her clerkship experience. 8 Despite the vast research on factors contributing to specialty decisions, the relationship of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) performance and specialty decision has yet to be elucidated. Relating OSCE performance to specialty choice is important as it allows us to better understand factors that may be associated with specialty decision making.…”