Evaluating a 'service elective' in clinical teaching for medical students.

Many medical students wish to begin developing clinical teaching skills before residency. Faculty at the University of California, Irvine developed a 60-hour, longitudinal 'service elective' in teaching skills, which 50 third-year and fourth-year students have completed since 2001. Students learned to enact and rate eight stations of an objective structured teaching examination (OSTE) for generalist resident physicians, broadening this practical training with in-class exercises. To evaluate the elective, structured, written questionnaires were administered. Participating students gave the elective a mean rating of 5.24 on a seven-point Likert-type scale, which fell between 'very good' (5) and 'excellent' (6). Narrative comments showed that students believed the elective--and in particular the OSTE training--prepared them well for teaching as residents.