A comprehensive review to establish priority learning objectives for medical students in the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship.

Abstract

This study was undertaken to describe the process used to identify, externally validate, and establish the priority learning objectives for medical students on the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship. We conducted a review of the APGO Medical Student Objectives in Obstetrics and Gynecology to establish which of these objectives should be given first priority. We used recommendations from external references to assess the validity of these selected objectives. We compared the distribution of objectives with levels of expected competency from Miller's pyramid. From a list of 267 unique learning objectives we identified 134 (50.2%) Priority 1 objectives students must master by the end of the clerkship. The recommendations from 17 external references were compared with this set of objectives, which demonstrated a significant correlation between the 2 (P < or = .001). Priority 1 objectives were associated with advanced levels of competency. External sources validated and helped prioritize the learning objectives.