Medical students’ assessment of pediatric patients - teaching and evaluation using video cases

BACKGROUND: We introduced video-based teaching in pediatrics. We evaluated the impact of a pediatric video program on student performance in assessing pediatric patients presented as video cases. The program consisted of a library of pediatric videos, and inclusion of these in the teaching and examination for pediatric medicine. METHODS: Medical students on a pediatric clerkship at the University of Copenhagen assessed eight short pediatric video cases during autumn 2011 and spring 2012. Two independent observers evaluated a subset of records in a pilot study. A blind evaluation was made of the written records of 37 students before, and 58 students after, the introduction of the program using a Rubric score with four domains. RESULTS: The intraobserver interclass correlation coefficient was 0.94 and the interobserver interclass correlation was 0.71(n=25). The students’ mean total Rubric score in spring 2012 (7.0) was significantly higher (p<0.001, 95% CI 1.34–3.20) than autumn 2011 (4.7). Cohen's d was 1.1 (95% CI 0.6–1.7). Single domains scores increased significantly for general assessment (1.30 versus 0.57) (p<0.002, 95% CI 0.45–1.18), recognition of principal symptoms (1.38 versus 0.81) (p<0.008, 95% CI 0.22–0.91), appropriate diagnosis (2.28 versus 1.78) (p<0.002, 95% CI 0.16–0.82) and consistency between observed symptoms and diagnosis (1.94 versus 1.57) (p=0.0482, 95% CI 0.00–0.79). CONCLUSIONS: Students improved in evaluating pediatric patients presented as video cases after the introduction of the program. The impact on real-life situations remains to be established.