Purpose 
Medical students are increasingly using external, commercial resources as primary or supplemental tools for their medical education. There is a need to better understand the appropriate place for external resources within medical education and for faculty members to integrate such resources into the existing medical curricula to diversify learning modalities for students. Therefore, the current project examined factors contributing to the increase in use of external resources and combined student and faculty perspectives to generate collaborative recommendations for the future use of external resources in medical education. 

Methods 
A review of the literature was conducted with a focus on the synthesis of data, factors, and viewpoints about external resources in medical education. Inclusion criteria included published, peer-reviewed articles in English with a sample including pre-clerkship medical students as well as AAMC data reports. Our multidisciplinary team included a medical student and two biomedical science educators ensuring comprehensive coverage and diverse perspectives in our analysis. 

Results 
Medical students supplement their pre-clerkship curriculum with external resources, driven by the desire to perform well on national board exams, their generation’s affinity for technology and online learning, and the rise of pass/fail grading systems within medical schools. Although the COVID-19 pandemic did not initiate the trend for online learning, it likely augmented it. Faculty highlight the importance of learner presence and concerns about the decline in student reading but acknowledge opportunities to integrate external resources into their teaching modalities to develop medical students as self-regulated adult learners. 

Conclusion 
Integrating external resources into pre-clerkship medical education offers significant advantages for both faculty and students. Embracing this hybrid approach not only meets contemporary learning preferences but also equips future physicians with the adaptable skills needed in today’s dynamic healthcare landscape.