Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jul 1;14(4):E063.
eCollection 2012 Jul-Dec.

Summer anesthesiology externship: Demonstrating the ability of early clinical involvement to educate and increase specialty interest

Kevin S Baker  1 , Daniel Cormican  2 , Peggy A Seidman  3
Affiliations

Summer anesthesiology externship: Demonstrating the ability of early clinical involvement to educate and increase specialty interest

Kevin S Baker et al. J Educ Perioper Med. .

Abstract

Background: We describe the influence of a 6-week "Summer Anesthesiology Externship" featuring didactic, procedure, and simulation education on formation of medical students' specialty choice.

Methods: Eighteen months after externship completion, externs were sent a questionnaire with Likert scale agreement ratings of subspecialties/simulations and yes/no questions about student career interests before/after the program, stipend importance, and procedural skill performance during/after the program.

Results: General anesthesiology had the highest subspecialty approval rating (9.0). Externs strongly agreed that simulations successfully progressed at first year student understanding levels (9.2 mean agreement rating), increased confidence in being part of a care team (9.4 mean agreement rating), and provided personal/interpersonal development. Externs unanimously agreed that the program introduced them to the breadth of anesthesiology, and that practicing clinical/procedural skills improved confidence when performing the procedures later in medical school. Four of 14 students applied for the externship with some focus on anesthesiology as a career choice. After the externship, a significantly higher number of students (12 of 14) were strongly considering applying to the field (p<0.0001). Eleven of 14 ultimately entered anesthesiology residencies, a significantly higher rate than our general medical student classes (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Both CA1 and CA3 resident post-test scores improved at the end of the ultrasound guided regional workshop. Our study showed a 68% improvement in test scores, which is larger than the 50% improvement previously reported. These results show that fast learning can occur in this type of setting. Furthermore, knowledge acquired during the workshop was retained when CA1 residents were re-tested one year after the workshop. The ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia workshop will become part of the didactic series for our CA1 residents and will be a required learning activity. Additional work still needs to be done to find out the best way to test knowledge and skill outcomes in residents learning new technology and techniques.

Keywords: Externship; early clinical exposure; specialization choice; summer externship.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Stony Brook University School of Medicine Third Year Course Requirements. Available from http://www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org/som/thirdyearcourses. Revised December 22, 2010. Accessed June 22, 2012.
    1. Cronau H, Haines DJ. Medical student summer externship program: Increasing the Number Matching in Family Practice. Med Educ Online. 2004;9(3) Available from http://www.med-ed-online.org/t0000048.htm. Accessed June 22, 2012. - PubMed
    1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians: Summer Extern Program. Available at http://www.fammed.wisc.edu/med-student/opportunities/externships. Accessed June 22, 2012.
    1. Branstetter B, Faix L, Humphrey A, Schumann J. Preclinical Medical Student Training in Radiology: The Effect of Early Exposure. Am J Roentgenol. 2007;188(1):W9–W14. - PubMed
    1. Hammoud M, Stansfield R, Katz N, Dugoff L, McCarthy J, White C. The Effect of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship on Students’ Interest in a Career in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006;195(5):1422–1426. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources