J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2021;18(1):12. 10.3352/jeehp.2021.18.12.

Feasibility of clinical performance assessment of medical students on a virtual sub-internship in the United States

• Woller J
• Tackett S
• Apfel A
• Record J
• Cayea D
• Walker S
• Pahwa A

• KMID: 2520598
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2021.18.12

Abstract

We aimed to determine whether it was feasible to assess medical students as they completed a virtual sub-internship. Six students (out of 31 who completed an in-person sub-internship) participated in a 2-week virtual sub-internship, caring for patients remotely. Residents and attendings assessed those 6 students in 15 domains using the same assessment measures from the in-person sub-internship. Raters marked “unable to assess” in 75/390 responses (19%) for the virtual sub-internship versus 88/3,405 (2.6%) for the in-person sub-internship (P=0.01), most frequently for the virtual sub-internship in the domains of the physical examination (21, 81%), rapport with patients (18, 69%), and compassion (11, 42%). Students received complete assessments in most areas. Scores were higher for the in-person than the virtual sub-internship (4.67 vs. 4.45, P<0.01) for students who completed both. Students uniformly rated the virtual clerkship positively. Students can be assessed in many domains in the context of a virtual sub-internship.

Keyword

Medical student; Undergraduate medical education; Distance education; Clinical clerkship