521 - Competency-Based Education in an Ever-Busy Environment: Are Virtual DOs the Answer?

Sunday, April 30, 2023

3:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

Poster Number: 521
Publication Number: 521.327

Meagan Matuska, University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine, Roscoe, IL, United States; Diane Rogers, Contagious Change, Mesa, AZ, United States; Deanna Frings, IEG Experiences, West Allis, WI, United States; Nicola Orlov, University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States

Presenting Author(s)

Meagan Matuska, BS (she/her/hers)

Medical Student
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
Roscoe, Illinois, United States

Background:
Direct observations (DOs) are a fundamental aspect of competency-based medical education, with the Liaison Committee of Medical Education requiring their performance at each core clerkship during medical school. Despite this requirement, however, research has shown that DOs are often infrequently and/or poorly performed, likely due to the time constraints associated with in-person observations. No studies to date have explored the success of a virtual, asynchronous direct observation platform in mitigating the time challenges of DOs within undergraduate medical education (UME).

Objective: The objective of this project was to pilot a virtual direct observation platform at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) and assess its feasibility as an efficient and effective mechanism to receive personalized clinical feedback.

Design/Methods:
Participants: Data collection for this project is ongoing. Participants in this project will be the 88 members of PSOM’s Class of 2024; to date, 42 of those third-year students have completed the virtual DO experience.
Intervention: Direct observations were conducted virtually and asynchronously using an iPad on wheels and Zoom technology. For medical students, completing their virtual DO consisted of (1) recording themselves during a patient encounter, (2) notifying the attending preceptor that the recording had been saved to the cloud, and (3) meeting with their preceptor within 48 hours to review the recording and receive personalized feedback.
Assessment: After completing their virtual DO, students responded to a survey assessing the feasibility, efficiency, and effectiveness of the DO technology and virtual format.

Results:

To date, 42 third-year students have completed their virtual DO and the associated survey. The large majority of students identified the virtual DO platform as “user-friendly and effective” (38/42 students, 90.5%). Similarly, 36/42 students (85.7%) agreed that the virtual DO platform was an “efficient” and “effective” mechanism to receive feedback. Perhaps most importantly, the attending preceptor who completed the virtual DOs identified the remote platform as “a novel and innovative way to overcome the scheduling barriers that come along with DOs, while still providing an accurate experience of watching students at the patient bedside.”

Conclusion(s):

The results from this innovation suggest that employing virtual DOs within UME has the potential to increase the amount of individualized feedback medical students experience, while minimizing the time and financial costs of conducting in-person direct observations.