Introduction: Students transitioning from undergraduate to graduate medical education often feel unprepared in the care of acutely ill patients. To address this gap in EPA-10 competence, we developed and implemented a hybrid, multi-unit critical care course to final year medical students prior to starting residency. We hypothesize that the implementation of a hybrid, multi-unit critical care curriculum for final phase medical students will enhance their medical knowledge and confidence in recognizing and managing acutely decompensating patients. Methods: Using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model, a four-week course was created collaboratively between four ICUs at the beginning of the final phase of the medical school curriculum. The course components included partaking in critical care rounds (in medical, neurologic, pediatric, and surgical ICUs), core case-based didactics, procedural skills session, high-fidelity simulation session, and completing Clinical Worksheets for guided reflection. Students’ knowledge and confidence levels in managing decompensating patients were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale at the beginning and end of the course. Students also indicated course satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale. A paired t-test and two-sided Wilcox regression were performed on confidence data. Results: Fifty-two students’ data was examined. Average pre-test and post-test scores were 57.7% and 72.3% respectively (p-value < 0.001). 46% percent and 13% percent of students were “somewhat confident” and “very confident” in recognizing and managing acutely decompensating patients, respectively, which increased to 63% and 79% post-curriculum, respectively (p-value < 0.001). 92% of students reported they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” after completing the course and 96% of students reported they “agree” or “strongly agree” the curriculum improved their medical knowledge. Conclusions: This multi-unit, hybrid curriculum was feasible to implement and effective in facilitating knowledge acquisition for students and increasing confidence in recognizing and caring for critically ill patients. Most students were satisfied with the curriculum. Future work will be aimed at evaluating the ease of replicating this curriculum at other institutions and assessing long-term knowledge and confidence retention.
Mazza et al. (Sun,) studied this question.