Location
Suwanee, GA
Start Date
10-5-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
12-5-2021 12:00 AM
Description
Context: Mock examinations are commonplace in many academic settings and are offered as a study aid to students with the hope of lowering stress levels and increasing their preparedness for the actual exam. In contrast, mock exams are rarely offered by faculty in clinical training due to their expense and administrative burden (1). Students taking objective structured clinical examinations, (OSCEs), have been proven to benefit from participating in mock exams (2). However, this is something that has not been explored in the context of the Focused Exam Workshop (FEW). While OSCEs focus solely on biomechanical skills, the FEW allows students to choose which physical exams are important for gathering information pertinent to creating a diagnosis and writing a SOAP note. In this study, we assess the efficacy of providing first year medical students with a mock exam prior to taking their FEW. This will stress the importance of implementing peer-organized mock examinations.
Objective: Our study objective is to draw correlations between mock Focused Exam Workshop participation and overall performance on the course examination including final score, student stress levels, and biomechanical performance. This study will create a fundamental basis for understanding the effectiveness of participating in mock exams as preparation for all physical and clinically based skill examinations.
Methods: The students were offered a SOAP note workshop and provided with complete exams specific to PCOM-GA curriculum as preparatory work prior to testing. Mock exams were then performed virtually with second year students acting as standardized patients (SP) with prepared case presentations. Thirty first year students acting as the doctor were asked to join the virtual rooms at different times and then perform a History and Physical with their SP focusing around a specific chief complaint that the students were unaware of before beginning the exam. Instructions were given on how the mock exam process will be conducted but no other hints were given to students regarding the context of the exam. Following the history and physical exam, the students were asked to create a SOAP note within the 9 minute limit offered by the COMLEX Level 2 PE exam (3). These SOAP notes were graded based on course description and COMLEX Level - 2 PE guideline by the student’s respective SP before the data was compiled. We also asked students to provide us with feedback through a Google Form that was sent out after the actual FEW was completed, so that they could provide us with extra information regarding their state of mind and chief complaint preferences among other things. All of this data was compiled and analyzed before being compared to student’s actual FEW scores which were provided to us without any identifying information, as to preserve student anonymity. IRB approval was obtained through the committee at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia Campus.
Results & Conclusions: Results are pending further study
Embargo Period
6-3-2021
The Benefits of Peer-Lead Mock Focused Exam Workshops
Suwanee, GA
Context: Mock examinations are commonplace in many academic settings and are offered as a study aid to students with the hope of lowering stress levels and increasing their preparedness for the actual exam. In contrast, mock exams are rarely offered by faculty in clinical training due to their expense and administrative burden (1). Students taking objective structured clinical examinations, (OSCEs), have been proven to benefit from participating in mock exams (2). However, this is something that has not been explored in the context of the Focused Exam Workshop (FEW). While OSCEs focus solely on biomechanical skills, the FEW allows students to choose which physical exams are important for gathering information pertinent to creating a diagnosis and writing a SOAP note. In this study, we assess the efficacy of providing first year medical students with a mock exam prior to taking their FEW. This will stress the importance of implementing peer-organized mock examinations.
Objective: Our study objective is to draw correlations between mock Focused Exam Workshop participation and overall performance on the course examination including final score, student stress levels, and biomechanical performance. This study will create a fundamental basis for understanding the effectiveness of participating in mock exams as preparation for all physical and clinically based skill examinations.
Methods: The students were offered a SOAP note workshop and provided with complete exams specific to PCOM-GA curriculum as preparatory work prior to testing. Mock exams were then performed virtually with second year students acting as standardized patients (SP) with prepared case presentations. Thirty first year students acting as the doctor were asked to join the virtual rooms at different times and then perform a History and Physical with their SP focusing around a specific chief complaint that the students were unaware of before beginning the exam. Instructions were given on how the mock exam process will be conducted but no other hints were given to students regarding the context of the exam. Following the history and physical exam, the students were asked to create a SOAP note within the 9 minute limit offered by the COMLEX Level 2 PE exam (3). These SOAP notes were graded based on course description and COMLEX Level - 2 PE guideline by the student’s respective SP before the data was compiled. We also asked students to provide us with feedback through a Google Form that was sent out after the actual FEW was completed, so that they could provide us with extra information regarding their state of mind and chief complaint preferences among other things. All of this data was compiled and analyzed before being compared to student’s actual FEW scores which were provided to us without any identifying information, as to preserve student anonymity. IRB approval was obtained through the committee at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia Campus.
Results & Conclusions: Results are pending further study