Influence of clerkship sites on National Board of Medical Examiners surgery subject examination performance

•Comparability and student experience are needed across diverse rotation sites.•Seven hundred one students over 3.5 years were studied using National Board of Medical Examiners subject examination scores as a measure of comparable educational experiences.•Students rotated at academic, VA, and community hospitals, at sites with and without residents.•No statistically significant differences between NSSE mean scores were found across sites.

BackgroundAs one measure of comparability of student experiences on a 2-month surgery clerkship, scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners Surgery Subject Examination (NSSE) were evaluated against a number of variables.MethodsNSSE scores for 701 students completing the surgery clerkship over 3.5 years were analyzed. Students rotated at academic, VA, and community hospitals with 1 month of general surgery paired with 1 month of a surgical subspecialty. The effect of 15 rotation site pairings on NSSE performance was analyzed by analysis of variance. The relationship of site-specific student evaluation variables and NSSE scores was examined by stepwise multivariate linear regression.ResultsNo statistical differences were demonstrated between NSSE scores and site-specific parameters of duty hours, resident participation, or type of hospital, nor between NSSE scores and paired sites constituting the overall clerkship experience.ConclusionPerformance on the NSSE was not impacted by any assigned paired sites, supporting comparability of overall clerkship experiences.