Impact of Bedside Physical Diagnosis Training on Third-Year Medical Student’s Physical Exam Skills

• In Event: Measurement of Reasoning Skills in the Health Professions

Abstract

Graduating medical students when surveyed noted a deficit in training in physical examination (PE) skills. To remedy this deficit we developed and implemented a pilot program for third-year medical students consisting of twice-weekly bedside diagnosis rounds as part of their eight-week internal medicine clerkship. To evaluate the success of this program we reviewed students’ objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) PE scores at the completion of the clerkship compared with prior years’ students who did not have the training. Results show that students who were trained had an overall higher OSCE PE score (n=109, M=12.57) than students without the training (n=85, M=11.5). Additionally, trained students reported increased comfort level and self-assessed higher physical exam skills at the end of the clerkship.

Authors

• Lloyd Roberts, Stony Brook University Medical Center

• Wei-Hsin Lu, Stony Brook University Medical Center