41 - Structural Science for the Clerkships: The GALEN Initiative

Poster Board Number: 41
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Students stimulated this project by expressing interest in focused learning of Structural Sciences topics (Anatomy, Embryology, Histology/Histopathology, Pathology, Medical Imaging) specifically related to each of the clinical clerkships. Fourth year students felt they would have been better prepared for success in the third-year clerkships by having these focused sessions. Current educational trends describe less and less traditional curricular time for basic science, including the Structural Sciences. Pertinent questions being asked in this regard are: "What content could be carried forward to the clerkships?" and "How best to do this?" We developed one approach to addressing these questions.

The GALEN Initiative (Group on Anatomical Learning, Embryology and Necessary procedures) is a Co-Created curriculum involving students ("what we need"), clerkship directors ("what we'd like to see them have") and Structure faculty ("what we can offer"). Consensus was built among these groups during the focused needs assessment, learning objectives, and design components of curriculum development. A four-hour curriculum was developed for each clerkship: Surgery, Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, OB/GYN (not Psychiatry) for delivery during the first week of each clerkship. The curriculum included lab-based, skills-based, and larger group interactive sessions, recurring for each of the 6 cycles during the academic year. Each clerkship-specific course chose a different area of focus. Surgery: abdominal structure; Medicine: cardiopulmonary structure; Neurology: brain and spinal cord; Pediatrics: embryology and congenital disease; OB/GYN: pelvic anatomy, placenta. Additionally, fourth-year students participated with faculty to help design and present course content, contributing specific examples from their own clerkship experiences, reinforcing the importance of the material. From 3 - 7 MS-4s served as co-instructors in each session. Surgery and Neurology began in May 2021, Medicine in March 2022, Pediatrics in August 2022, and OB/GYN presently. Further data will be available soon.
We chose to assess the operational effects of the courses related to students' confidence and self-actualization, and the contribution of each program to daily interactions with residents and faculty, clerkship director rounds, or in the OR. Individual course components and the effectiveness of the MS-4s were also assessed, comprising a 13 question post-clerkship assessment. Open comments were also solicited. Overall feedback by students, clerkship faculty and Structure faculty has been extremely positive. Students responded to statements with Likert scale anchors of 5 = strongly agree; 4 = agree; 3 = neither agree nor disagree; 2 = disagree; 1 = strongly disagree. The average score for all questions was Neurology 4.23; Surgery 4.07; Medicine 3.78. MS 4 effectiveness was rated 4.21. Most open comments were positive with many citing “high yield” as a major descriptor. The downside was students spending time away from the hospital for the sessions.

A clerkship-specific course in the Structural sciences can be developed successfully through a Co-created curriculum. They improve student confidence and are seen as helpful for success in the clerkships. Near-peer teaching is highly valued by both learners and teachers and contributes significantly to the success of the program. Time away from the hospital, even for lab and procedural practice is seen as a downside.