Morning report for students in the internal medicine clerkship

Abstract

Morning report is a common internal medicine resident educational exercise and can be adapted for clerkship student education. This study describes a student morning report for internal medicine clerkship students developed and implemented at the University of Vermont. Held three mornings each week, it was led by the clerkship director or other general internal medicine faculty. In 1991, 73 of 75 students (97%) completed a questionnaire evaluating departmental teaching, including student morning report. This exercise was highly rated for both quality and relevance at 4.25 and 4.34, respectively, on a 5‐point scale. In rank‐ordering teaching quality, it was the highest ranked structured teaching activity of the department, significantly (p < .05) greater than other programs and equal to informal resident teaching. In rank‐ordering clinical importance, it was again the highest ranked structured teaching activity (p < .05), ranking just below patient interaction and informal resident teaching. We conclude that student morning report is a well‐received teaching activity and that the format allows faculty to teach and assess student skills in case presentation and clinical thinking in a relatively efficient manner.