Poster Group Abstracts

Gill Phillips
2019 Canadian Medical Education Journal  
Background/Purpose: Medical students face numerous stressors during their pre-clinical years, including developing confidence in their skills, knowledge and deciding which specialty to pursue. For those interested in specialties with limited integration into the traditional pre-clinical curriculum, or students who still have a broad range of interests at the end of their pre-clinical studies, a two-week Pre-clerkship Residency Exploration Program (PREP) could be a useful tool to reduce
more » ... cision-making anxiety. Objectives: To assess whether PREP, a two-week intensive elective for second year medical students, can be effective in reducing performance anxiety and stress related to the transition into a clinical learning environment. Methods: 37 second year medical students completed pre-and post-program surveys that assessed, on a Likert-scale, their level of performance anxiety during clinical electives, as well as their anxiety oriented towards future career decisions (i.e., clerkship, specialty selection, and residency match). Results: Of those who participated, performance anxiety was low at baseline and was unchanged by the end of PREP (p-value = 0.29). However, there was a significant decrease in stress surrounding exposure to enough specialties to make an informed career choice (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: While this cohort of participants were not stressed about their clinical performance, they are anxious to explore as many specialties as possible during their pre-clinical years to help make informed career decisions. PREP may serve as an effective tool to expose medical students to a high volume of specialties and reduce the stress associated with transitioning into a clinical learning environment.
doi:10.36834/cmej.68190 fatcat:s25vxruxa5dlzj65apcuhsdt6e