The oral case presentation: what internal medicine clinician-teachers expect from clinical clerks.

Background: The oral case presentation (OCP) is a fundamental communication skill that frequently is taught as part of internal medicine clerkships. However, little is known about the optimal content for an OCP. Purpose: We hypothesized that internal medicine clinician–teachers have common expectations regarding OCPs by 3rd-year medical students. Methods: We administered a 42-item survey to 136 internal medicine faculty members at 5 U.S. medical schools who spent at least 8 weeks as “ward attending” in the 2005–6 academic year, or spent at least 4 weeks as a “ward attending” and had an administrative role in medical education. We asked about the relative importance of 14 potential attributes in a 3rd-year medical student OCP using a 6-point Likert scale. We also asked about their expectations for the length of a new patient presentation. Mean responses from the 5 schools were compared using chi-squared, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and t testing, as appropriate. Results: We received 106 responses (78% re...