Is There a Role for Internal Medicine Residency Preparation Courses in the Fourth Year Curriculum? A Single-Center Experience

Excerpt

The transition from medical school to residency represents a substantial increase in patient care responsibilities for graduating medical students. In order to prepare for this transition, most medical schools require at least one sub-internship during the fourth (M4) year.¹ The benefits of sub-internships have been well described;² however, there is growing concern that essential skills required for residency are not reliably addressed in the face of restricted duty hours. For example, decreased overnight experiences may lead to less training in cross-coverage and medical emergencies.³ In addition, it has been demonstrated that few students receive formal handoff training.⁴ Capstone courses, also known as “Residency Preparation Courses” (RPCs), or “Boot Camps,” represent an emerging strategy to bridge this gap and are well described in the surgical literature.⁵ However, little has been described about the potential value added from internal medicine (IM) RPCs. Our goal is to explore the differences between our IM RPC and sub-internship experiences. …