P156: Exploring educational innovation: out of the shadows of shadow week

Abstract

Introduction: In the third year of medical school, students participate in a four week period called Transition to Clerkship, followed by Shadow week, where students spend one week in the discipline prior to starting clerkship. In the past, students have identified that receiving specific additional training during Shadow week would help them succeed in their rotation. To address this problem, the curriculum discussed in this paper is being developed for third year students who will be commencing clerkship in Emergency Medicine (EM). Methods: In order to assess achievement of objectives within the curriculum, questionnaires were provided to participants in the morning and afternoon of the session, as well as at the end of their rotation. Evaluative analysis is done through the Kirkpatrick program evaluation framework based on descriptive comparison of scores on the questionnaires, followed by statistical analysis with the Mann-Whitney Test (2-tailed, p=0.05) and a reflective critique. Results: Learning activities in this curriculum included: case-based learning, video critique, role play, scavenger hunt, jigsaw activity, think-pair-share, and a game-show style game. This study aims to show if, and how, providing interactive, hands-on learning sessions, which are directly relevant to clinical practice in the emergency department, positively impacted medical students beginning their clerkship in EM. Conclusion: Learners showed statistically significant positive improvement on all learning objectives of the curriculum. A reflective critique provides insight into lessons learned from delivering this curriculum and future directions for this curriculum. This learner-centered curriculum with innovative teaching methods and a considerable number of active learning strategies has encouraged the learners to take responsibility for their own learning. While this curriculum took place in the medical school, it can apply equally to learners completing their EM clerkship in a community or tertiary Emergency Department.