Continuing Coaching Through the Clerkship Year: Reflections From Students and Coaches

BACKGROUND: Medical students transitioning to clerkships face new academic, social and emotional challenges in an unfamiliar learning environment. Medical student coaching has benefits for students' personal and professional development during the preclinical years, but there is limited literature studying its role in the clerkship year. Previous studies indicate that students have difficulty accessing coaching during clerkships, suggesting a missed opportunity to facilitate ongoing personal and professional development. APPROACH: We expanded coaching in the clerkship year by facilitating additional student-coach meetings covering topics such as feedback, wellness and career decision-making. Seven coaches and 31 students participated in this pilot. EVALUATION: We assessed effectiveness using a survey with Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Both students and coaches reported benefits related to support and reflection, the longitudinal relationship and professional development. Students found coaching added a unique and valuable perspective to their clerkship experience, stemming from the strong pre-existing coaching relationship. Both groups identified scheduling meetings as the biggest challenge. An unexpected finding was the early identification of challenges students may be facing, with the potential for early support and mitigation. IMPLICATIONS: Our students and coaches find coaching during the clerkship year to be valuable and feasible, especially if coordinated with clerkships to reduce scheduling concerns. Results align with Gruppen's conceptual framework for learning environments: the benefits fall into the social and personal domains, with the challenge of scheduling highlighting the need for organizational support.