Evaluating the Impact of Early Clinical Role Exposure to Ease Transition to the Clinical Year

The transition to clinical training is a well-documented source of medical student stress. While students are taught the essential skills of patient interviewing and physical examination, exposure to their role on the ward team may be limited. We designed an opportunity for pre-clinical medical students to shadow clinical students to better understand the role of the student on the clinical team. Participants were surveyed before and after to evaluate their understanding and comfort. They reported increased familiarity and comfort with the clinical student’s role after shadowing and that the experience was worthwhile and reduced their anxiety about the transition.

Duke Scholars

Author Saumil Mahendra Chudgar Medicine, General Internal Medicine