A Capstone Course for Senior Medical Students: from Innovative Elective to Required Core Curriculum

Med Sci Educ. 2023 Dec 27;34(1):171-180. doi: 10.1007/s40670-023-01880-2. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Abstract

We describe our institution's development and implementation of our Capstone course from a small elective course to the only required fourth-year course. The course's structure evolved from mostly didactic to one including various workshops and simulation sessions. Course content has become increasingly specialty-specific. Implementation requires high faculty and resident involvement. Evaluations indicate a positive impact of the course on participants' self-reported confidence and residency preparedness. Assessment remains pass/fail with more specialty-specific questions. As steadily increasing numbers of medical schools are developing transition to residency courses, we share our Capstone course's evolution and lessons learned over the past nine years.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-023-01880-2.

Keywords: Boot camp; Curriculum; Transition to residency; Undergraduate medical education.