From books to the bedside: post-graduation impact of 'Week On the Wards' on medical education

The transition between preclinical and clinical years during medical school has been shown to be challenging. Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) implements one required two-week-long shadowing program for first and one one-week-long shadowing program for second-year medical students called Week On the Wards (WOW). The goal of this study is to ascertain whether students who completed the WOW curriculum found it beneficial over the long-term. Specifically, we want to evaluate alumni’s impression of the program’s influence on career, specialty choice, professional development, personal development, and confidence. To evaluate our program, we developed, validated, and distributed a survey via email in the autumn of 2023. Our population included alumni from the classes of 2019–2022, irrespective of race and gender. After following steps for survey development, it was validated via focus group using qualitative methods. The survey consisted of 19 questions answerable on a 5-point Likert scale, a “Yes/No/Unsure/Maybe” section, and an optional open-ended response question. Descriptive analysis was done to report the percent responses. The survey was emailed to 353 alumni, with 72 completed responses returned. Majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the WOW program showcased the importance of teamwork in medicine (80.6%), helped them learn to apply medical knowledge (77.8%), influenced their decision regarding which residency/specialty they chose (72.2%), provided an example of how teamwork in medicine is necessary for patient safety and effective care (66.6%), and increased their confidence in their networking skills (66.6%). Alumni nearly unanimously agreed that the WOW program was a useful part of their medical school education (93.1%) and that it should be continued for future classes (94.4%). Our results highlight the sustained importance of early preclinical exposure to clinical environments in students’ future career decisions, in their understanding of the clinical applications of learned preclinical topics, and the importance of teamwork in medicine.