Evaluating the Effectiveness of Early Exposure: Obstetrics and Gynecology Two-Week Virtual Elective

Clinical clerkships are an integral part of undergraduate medical education. Until now, clerkships have either been offered through simulation labs, didactics or in the healthcare setting dependent upon the pedagogical approach of each institutions’ curricula. Subsequent to coronavirus-2019, medical students had decreased accessibility to the aforementioned educational settings. This has provided an innovative opportunity for clerkship directors to provide the same clinical experience to students in a novel way –virtually.

Recently, the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont created a two-week virtual simulated clerkship electiveencompassing the curricula taught throughout the OB/GYN clerkship. Until now, this virtual elective had yet to be evaluated on its effectiveness in increasing student success in the traditional OB/GYN clerkship.

Based on a study conducted by Surmon et al (2016), four main themes corelate with students’ perception of preparedness – positive influences, learning to adapt, and potentially modifiable influences, which encompasses positive and negative influences. Our systematic review of self-perceived preparedness focused on the modifiable f actors of positive and negative influences -competence, curriculum, and learning.