Assessment of third-year medical students’ comfort and preparedness for navigating challenging clinical scenarios with patients, peers, and supervisors

Table 1 Overall, Level-Specific, and Subject-Specific Comfort with Challenging Clinical Scenarios, Overall and by Gender (n = 118)^a

Score, median (IQR; Q1, Q3)	All (n = 120)	Females (n = 78, 33.3%)	Males (n = 156, 66.7%)	p-value^b
Overall Score^c	2.8 (0.8; 2.5, 3.3)	2.7 (0.6; 2.4, 3.0)	3.0 (1.1; 2.6, 3.7)	0.025*
Level-Specific Scenarios^d
Patient	3.1 (0.9; 2.8, 3.7)	3.0 (0.8; 2.7; 3.4)	3.2 (1.1, 2.8, 3.9)	0.082
Peer	2.6 (1.0; 2.1, 3.1)	2.4 (0.7; 2.1 2.9)	2.7 (1.3; 2.3, 3.6)	0.123
Upper-level	2.6 (0.9; 2.3, 3.1)	2.5 (0.9; 2.0, 2.9)	3.0 (1.1; 2.5, 3.6)	0.002*
Subject-Specific Scenarios^e
Gender	2.3 (1.3; 1.8, 3.0)	2.0 (1.0; 1.5, 2.5)	2.8 (1.3; 2.3, 3.5)	< 0.001*
Race/ethnicity	2.0 (1.0;1.7, 2.7)	1.7 (1.3; 1.3, 2.7)	2.0 (1.7; 1.7, 3.3)	0.089
Politics	3.0 (1.2; 2.5, 3.7)	3.0 (1.0; 2.3; 3.3)	3.0 (1.3 l 2.7, 4.0)	0.526
Age	3.0 (1.3; 2.3, 3.7)	3.0 (1.3; 2.0, 3.3)	3.0 (1.7; 2.3, 4.0)	0.072
Sexual Orientation and Identity	3.3 (1.3; 2.7; 4.0)	3.0 (1.0; 2.7, 3.7)	3.7 (1.3; 2.7, 4.0)	0.065
Disability	2.5 (1.5; 1.8, 3.3)	2.3 (1.3; 1.7, 3.0)	3.0 (1.7; 2.0, 3.7)	0.097*
Religion	3.4 (1.0; 3.0, 4.0)	3.4 (1.0; 3.0, 4.0)	3.6 (1.0; 3.2, 4.2)	0.046*

Abbreviations: IQR interquartile range
^a2 individuals who did not indicate gender were dropped for stratified analyses
^bp values are from Mann-Whitney Test. *denotes < 0.05
^cScores range from 1 (“very uncomfortable”) to 5 (“very comfortable”). Overall score represents average comfort scores across all 24 scenarios
^dScores range from 1 (“very uncomfortable”) to 5 (“very comfortable”). Level-specific scores represent average comfort scores across scenarios that described specific interactions with patients, peers (i.e. other medical students), and upper-levels (i.e. supervising residents and attending physicians)
^eScores range from 1 (“very uncomfortable”) to 5 (“very comfortable”). Subject-specific scores represent average comfort scores across scenarios that described interactions revolving around a specific subject (7 total subjects including gender, race/ethnicity, politics, age, sexual orientation and identity, disability, and religion)

ISSN: 1472-6920