Decline in Pediatric Shelf Examination Performance During COVID-19

Background Medical student education has been impacted by the ongoing coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Medical students were removed from clinical settings, and the censuses in pediatric hospitals decreased. While there have been studies starting to evaluate these effects on medical students training in surgical subspecialties, the literature in pediatrics is limited. Objective This study analyzed third-year medical students’ National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Clinical Science Pediatrics Shelf Exam scores at the conclusion of their core pediatric clerkship. We compared the exam scores before COVID-19 pandemic to those during the pandemic. We hypothesized that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic would have a negative impact on NBME shelf exam scores and that shelf exam failure rates would increase. Methods Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to initiation of this study. We conducted a retrospective review of medical student pediatric shelf exam scores from June 2017 to December 2020 from one large, single institution. We adjusted scores for block schedule timing and standardized them based on national norms published for the year prior. We compared two groups: those who completed their pediatric clerkship experiences before pandemic (predominantly in-person learning) vs. those who completed it during the pandemic (predominantly virtual learning). Groups were compared using chi-square and analysis-of-variance testing. Results We included 991 medical students, 772 before COVID-19 and 219 during COVID-19. Of these, 19 of 772 (2.5%) students failed the exam prior to COVID-19 compared to 19 of 219 (8.7%) during COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Students who completed their pediatric clerkship during COVID-19 were 3.77 times more likely to fail their end-of-clerkship NBME shelf exam (p < 0.001). Conclusions Students who completed their core pediatric clerkship in a predominantly virtual platform during the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly more likely to fail their end-of-clerkship NBME shelf exam. Increased failure rates may suggest issues with acquisition and retainment of pediatric medical knowledge throughout the clerkship, creating knowledge gaps in the foundation of their pediatric experience. Long-term effects of virtual learning platforms will need to be studied further.