Defining boot camp: a supporting literature review

Introduction: Medical education boot camps have been shown to be effective courses to improve skills and confidence although the definition of what a boot camp is and how it differs from a skills course is not clear. We propose the definition of a boot camp to be an intensive course delivered at the start of a new clinical role designed to provide foundation to a curriculum through practical training.

 

Method: PubMed search using term “Boot Camp” and “Boot camp” with abstracts of results reviewed to determine if courses were at a transition in training role and if a curriculum was referred to.

 

Results: There were 109 relevant abstracts referring to boot camp courses. 81% referred to a curriculum and 74% of courses occurred at a transition in training roles. Half of all the abstracts were from surgical or surgical subspecialty curricula.

 

Conclusion: Our definition of a medical education boot camp is supported by the literature review performed. We hope that by defining boot camps it will encourage others to develop curriculum specific courses to support their trainees as they develop and enter new roles.