Chaya Prasad¹
Jesus Sanchez¹
1 Western University of Health Sciences 

Abstract 

Medical school curriculum emphasizes knowledge base rather than basic clinical skills. Research has demonstrated gaps between what residency program expectations and what newly graduated physicians can do. Incoming residents struggle with both clinical skills and soft skills. Graduating students report being ill-prepared to fulfill clinical and professional responsibilities. 

We created a residency boot camp (RBC) to identify graduating students’ strengths and weaknesses in clinical skills (e.g. writing prescription orders, admission/discharge/consult notes, handoffs, pages) and soft skills (e.g. wellness, time management, communication skills). Chairs of core specialties determined topics and speakers with input from residency program directors. A mandatory 1-day RBC was offered to graduating students. Faculty and residents offered a hybrid model with pre-recorded videos and live virtual panel discussions. Students voluntarily completed a post RBC survey assessing levels of confidence and competency in basic clinical skills and handling of commonly encountered clinical scenarios. 

186/347 participants completed the survey. Participants agreed that they were comfortable/confident post RBC, with: developing their own clinical questions (81.7%), triaging sick/not sick patients (80.7%), presentation of patients (79.0%), recognizing abnormal vital signs (88.7%), recognizing changes that require immediate attention (81.8%), requesting specialty consultations (78.5%), handling specialty consultations (70.4%), communicating effectively with patients/family (88.2%), incorporating feedback into daily practice (87.1%), clinical documentation (83.9%), patient sign-out (78.0%), managing common clinical scenarios (83.3%), caring for patients in the clinic (79.0%) and hospital (77.4%), when to seek senior help (76.3%), their own resiliency skills (79.6%) and about sources of help when feeling overwhelmed (78.5%). 75.3% of the students wanted to see more resident presentations and 67.2% of the students were satisfied with the pilot. Faculty identified clinical skills that they could help students develop in the 3rd/ 4th years of medical school. 

A mandatory RBC can be effective in assessing and filling in gaps in clinical and soft skills. 

References (maximum three) 

1. https://www.ama-assn.org/medical-students/preparing-residency/pre-residency-boot- camps-prep-med-school-grads-new-realities 

2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40670-020-01124-7 

3. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jgme/article/11/2/214/10113/Assessing-Entrustable- Professional-Activities