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An Assessment of Ward Rounds and Clinics for Medical Students in their Child Health Block

Authors:

Pretin Davda
Elaine Carter

Institutions:

University of Leicester

Background

Ward rounds and clinics are an integral part of medical student learning and often the foundation of structured clinical placements.^1,2 They utilise experimental learning theory whereby learning is often most effective through experience, however these are often variable.³

Final year medical students at Leicester Medical School have a 7 week rotation in Paediatrics (Child Health Block), which should equip them with the tools to be safe and competent with future clinical encounters with children.

There are specific clinical skills set out in the learning outcomes of the module that they cannot acquire without valuable patient and consultant contact.

Previous electronic feedback highlighted that experiences are variable, some views are that students stay in the background and do not learn much.

This study assessed whether these environments helped students learn key Paediatric clinical skills such as history taking, examination, communication and management of specific conditions. It also looked at what attributes of the teacher contributed to a good learning experience.⁴

Summary of Results

1. The majority of students found ward rounds and clinics useful and enjoyable (Figure 1)

2. Ward Rounds and Clinics allowed the majority of students to learn (Figure 2) and observe (Figure 3) a variety of essential skills. Discrepancies between similar clinical skills may be due to inconsistencies in student perceptions on how to learn these skills.

3. Both environments created an interactive environment between teacher and student (Figure 4)

4. Interactivity was the most frequent quality that students felt contributed to a good learning experience (Figure 5)

Summary of Work

At Leicester Medical School, students in the 7 weeks Child Health Block are encouraged to attend 2 ward rounds and 2 clinics per week.

One block of medical students completed a questionnaire 3 weeks into their placement (n=32, 100% response rate), which provided both quantitative and qualitative data.

Conclusion

Paediatric ward rounds and clinics are allowing the majority of students to observe and learn key clinical skills. Interactivity is a key component to learning in these settings.

Increasing student involvement would further improve their learning experiences.

Take-home Messages

1. With e-learning becoming very popular, students still find that ward rounds and clinics create useful student learning experiences in the Child Health Block. They should therefore continue to be an essential component of clinical placements

2. Learning experiences are enhanced by teachers who promote interactivity in the learning environment

3. Encouraging teachers to invite students to clerk and present patients may further enhance learning experiences

...These are our future doctors...

References

1. General Medical Council (2009) Tomorrow’s Doctors, Outcomes and standards for undergraduate medical education

2. General Medical Council (2011) Clinical Placements for medical students, Advice supplementary to Tomorrow’s Doctors (2009)

3. Craze J et al (2006) Teaching medical students to examine children. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 91; 966-968

4. Gibson J (2009) The five ‘Es’ of anexcellent teacher. The Clinical Teacher, 6; 3-5