Background: The purpose of this educational innovation was to create a program for first and second year medical students (MS1s and MS2s) that would: (1) Provide students with early clinical exposure to the subspecialty field of anesthesiology, (2) Expose MS1s and MS2s to dedicated anesthesiologists serving as preceptors, (3) Enrich the students' basic science knowledge in a practical way using an integrated curriculum with clinical correlates and (4) Convey an accurate depiction of anesthesiology as a possible career choice.
Methods: The Anesthesiology Preceptorship Enrichment Program (APEP) was designed for MS1s and MS2s as a seven month curriculum for each level, integrated with basic science course content. APEP students shadowed faculty from the Department of Anesthesiology (APEP preceptors). Guided by handouts, preceptors reviewed basic science concepts with clinical correlates. APEP encounters from October 2006-April 2007, October 2007-April 2008, and October 2008-April 2009 were documented and students completed a questionnaire about their experience.
Results: After three years, APEP has become a successful program, as evidenced by the increasing numbers of interested incoming students, active students and returning students. According to the end of program questionnaire, 38-68% of the APEP students used the APEP handouts to guide discussions with their preceptor, enhance intra-operative teaching, and/or refer to while studying for basic science course exams. According to the questionnaire, 71-80% of the APEP students were more interested in the field of anesthesiology after participating in APEP, 10-16% were neither more or less interested, and 4-19% were less interested.
Conclusions: Early clinical exposure to anesthesiology with APEP was viewed as a very positive experience, increasing interest in anesthesiology at the MS1 and MS2 level. The APEP handouts were deemed a useful aid for discussion and created opportunities for teaching clinical correlates of basic science knowledge.
Keywords: Anesthesiology; Education; Integrated Curriculum; Medical Student; Preceptorship.