Clinical Assessment of 4th Year Osteopathic Medical Students: Outdoor Medicine Rotation

Introductio n: Securing clinical training sites remains a challenge for medical educators who often resort to paying preceptors or searching for new clinical training sites which haven’t traditionally taken students. We describe a unique partnership between the Boy Scouts of America and PCOM, providing a clinical training opportunity for OMS4 students at PCOM: Outdoor Clinical rotation the Summit Bechtel Family National Boy Scout Reserve in rural West Virginia at the National Scout jamboree, serving 35,000 scouts.

Methods and Curricular Design: By the end of the rotation, each PCOM student was able to (1) provide urgent care for common outdoor injuries: fractures, abrasions, insect bites, gastroenteritis, sprains, heat exhaustion, sunburn, eye injuries, etc; (2) provide basic life support, resuscitation and first aid in an outdoor setting; (3) identify and treat common chronic medical conditions (asthma, ADHD, etc) which are common to all children, not just those in a wilderness setting; (4) explain adolescent development and impact on character development, (5) explain the structure and mission of scouting; and (6) identify characteristics of international scouts with regard to culture, background, experience and perspectives.

Outcomes: Clinically-based assessments (direct observation, youth protection training, self-reflection, etc) satisfied all 13 Entrustable Professional Activities (AOA).