Abstract Background Growing evidence shows that ICU-based training enhances medical students’ clinical reasoning, patient assessment, and confidence in managing critically ill patients. Despite these benefits, standardized evidence-based intensive care unit (ICU) curricula at the medical school level are limited, resulting in variable training experiences. To address this gap, we developed a curriculum focused on ICU oral presentations delivered prior to students’ ICU rotations, with the goal of improving students’ confidence and skills in synthesizing information and delivering focused ICU oral presentations. Methods We piloted an 80-minute, case-based small-group session for third-year medical students, in which groups of 2–4 students practiced ICU oral presentations with peer and faculty feedback. Faculty first introduced key principles of ICU presentations, emphasizing structure, common pitfalls, and problem- versus systems-based approaches. Students then synthesized information from an interactive electronic health record formatted PowerPoint, and delivered two focused oral presentations, each lasting 5 minutes followed by 5 minutes of feedback. Students who were not presenting were assigned targeted feedback roles. Faculty reinforced teaching points regarding the unique ICU format and need for evolving assessments. Results Eighty-one medical students participated, and 41 (51%) completed the post-session survey. On average, students reported 0.5 days of prior ICU experience. Before the session, most students reported low confidence in their ability to pre-round and synthesize overnight events for ICU patients (20 49% not at all confident, 19 46% somewhat confident, 2 5% moderately confident). After the session, the proportion of students who reported feeling “moderately, fairly or very confident” increased from 5% to 78% (1 2% not at all confident, 8 20% somewhat confident, 19 46% moderately confident, 9 22% fairly confident, and 4 10% very confident).Similarly, before the session, most students reported low confidence in delivering a focused oral presentation for ICU patients (19 46% were not at all confident, 18 44% somewhat confident, 2 5% moderately confident, 2 5% fairly confident, and 0 0% very confident). After the session, the proportion of students who reported feeling “moderately, fairly or very confident” increased from 10% to 78% (no students were not at all confident; 9 22% were somewhat confident, 18 44% moderately confident, 13 32% fairly confident, and 1 2% very confident). Conclusion We piloted a novel case-based, small-group session which improved medical students’ confidence in synthesizing patient information and delivering focused ICU oral presentations. These findings highlight the need for continued development and broader implementation of evidence-based ICU curricula for medical students. This abstract is funded by: None
Fuher et al. (Fri,) studied this question.