Comparison of the number of supervisors on medical student satisfaction during a child and adolescent psychiatry rotation

Kelly J Mascioli,¹ Catharine J Robertson,^1,2 Alan B Douglass<sup>1,3

1</sup>Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; ²Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada; ³Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Background: Traditionally, third-year medical students are assigned to one supervisor during their 1-week rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, the majority of supervisory staff in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry opted to switch the supervision schedule to one in which some medical students are assigned to two primary supervisors.
Objective: The aim of the study was to determine if students assigned to two primary supervisors had greater rotation satisfaction compared with students assigned to one primary supervisor during a 1-week clerkship rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Methods: A satisfaction questionnaire was sent to 110 third-year medical students who completed their child and adolescent clerkship rotation. Based on the responses, students were divided into groups depending on their number of supervisors. Questionnaire responses were compared between the groups using independent t-tests.
Results: When students who had one primary supervisor were compared to students who had two primary supervisors, the lone item showing a statistically significant difference was regarding improvement of assessment reports/progress notes.
Conclusion: The number of supervisors does not significantly affect the satisfaction of students during a 1-week clerkship rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry. Other factors are important in rotation satisfaction.

Keywords: medical students, clerkship, child psychiatry