Core Practical Objectives: A Means to Standardize the 4th-Year Emergency Medicine Clerkship.

Background: Core Practical Objectives (CPOs) are clinical emergency medicine (EM) experiences (including suggested number of patient encounters) that students use to self-direct clerkship progress. Purpose: This study investigates feasibility of implementing EM clerkship CPOs, describes characteristics of students fulfilling CPO guidelines, and relates CPO completion to outcome measures (exam scores and grades). Methods: Cross-sectional research was conducted comparing students completing and not completing CPOs by gender, month of rotation, total patients evaluated, clerkship exam score, and final grade. Results: Over 4 years, 117 students completed an EM clerkship utilizing CPO guidelines. Gender and clerkship month were not associated with fulfilling CPOs. Total CPOs completed correlated positively with percent score on written exam and grade for rotation. Completion of specific CPOs was associated with exam scores and final grade. Conclusions: CPOs were successfully integrated into an EM clerkship. Preliminary data suggest that CPO guidelines can be used to standardize EM clerkships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]