Pediatric Intersession: An Upfront Flipped-Classroom Curriculum to Promote Pediatric Clerkship Readiness

Morgan Congdon; Laura Goldstein; Kristin D Maletsky; Meghan Craven; Stacey Rose; Erin Pete Devon

doi:10.1177/23821205241229774

Pediatric Intersession: An Upfront Flipped-Classroom Curriculum to Promote Pediatric Clerkship Readiness

J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2024 Feb 7:11:23821205241229774. doi: 10.1177/23821205241229774. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Morgan Congdon^{1

2}, Laura Goldstein^{1

2}, Kristin D Maletsky¹, Meghan Craven^{3

4}, Stacey Rose^{1

2}, Erin Pete Devon^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
² Perelman School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.

Abstract

Objectives: Best practices for content selection, mode of delivery, and timing of pediatric clerkship readiness curricula for medical students have, by and large, not been established. Capitalizing on changes in structure of the clinical clerkships during the COVID-19 pandemic, we created an upfront clerkship readiness curriculum, termed Pediatric Intersession (PI), to replace the existing weekly lecture-based clerkship didactics.

Methods: Our goal was to develop an interactive curriculum with innovative instructional design methodology intended to promote broad foundational pediatric knowledge and clerkship preparedness using case-based learning. We first conducted a needs assessment and crafted curriculum content using guiding principles from the 2019 Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) curriculum. We then organized material into four daily modules prior to the start of the clerkship and employed flipped classroom (FC) methodology.

Results: Sixty-six percent of students completed course evaluations, and >90% of the 100 respondents reported that the PI enhanced their clinical learning. Pre-/post-testing demonstrated some knowledge gain following the small-group sessions and there was no change on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Subject Exam mean scores compared to prior cohorts of students.

Conclusions: The global pandemic provided an opportunity to re-envision our pediatric clerkship didactics content, while also incorporating instructional design methodology preferred by students. Our curriculum promotes a small group-based, interactive approach to clerkship readiness that fosters learning in the clinical environment that can be adapted for various settings. Our evaluation suggests that the transition to a FC readiness curriculum can be done successfully while effectively preparing students for their pediatric clerkship.

Keywords: clinical education; curriculum development/evaluation; entry-to-practice student education; flipped classroom; pediatrics; undergraduate medical education.