The Use of an Integrated Website to Enhance the Educational Experience in a Medical School Radiology Clerkship Course.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of creating an integrated website for the medical students enrolled in a core radiology clerkship and to assess the impact of this website on students' overall educational experience. An integrated website was created for the medical students and hosted on the main departmental website. The components of the website included: announcements and password-protected schedule, curriculum, student assessment, information about different radiology sections, digital resources, and fourth year opportunities. The schedule section was created using Google Calendar to facilitate automatic syncing and real-time updates to the students' mobile devices. Weblinks for resources and assignments were incorporated into the calendar entries, which could be "pushed" to students in real time. Student attitudes were assessed via an exit survey. Various website usage statistics were collected. A total of 35 students who have rotated through the month-long clerkship thus far have used the website. Overall, 80% of students accessed the website once or multiple times a day. Over 90% of students thought that the website was well organized and easy to use; having access to the schedule on a smartphone had a positive impact on overall clerkship experience; the website had an overall positive impact on their clerkship experience; and they would recommend it to visiting medical students. Since July 2013, there have been a total of 9740 page views with 4113 unique visits to the website (an average of 17 visits per day from 6 visitors per day). The authors conclude that the creation of an integrated website has a positive impact on students' overall educational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]