title: Impact of a standardized patient intervention to teach breast and abdominal examination skills to third-year medical students at two institutions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examined whether a single intervention with standardized patients (SPs) as a supplement to traditional teaching during the surgery clerkship would enhance the breast and abdominal examination skills of third-year medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the academic year 1994-1995, 153 students from two institutions were assigned to control or experimental groups. At institution A, all students underwent pretests and posttests with SPs; at institution B, no pretest was conducted. All experimental students received group and one-to-one instruction with SPs during the intervention session.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At posttest, the experimental group performed better than the control group on breast examination (P = 0.002), professionalism during this examination (P <0.001), abdominal examination (P <0.001), and professionalism during the latter examination (P = 0.050). The improvement from pretest to posttest at institution A was significantly greater in the experimental group than the control group for the breast examination (P = 0.036) and the abdominal examination (P <0.001). Analyses on a variety of specific tasks within each examination were also performed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A single intervention with SPs teaching breast and abdominal examinations resulted in significant enhancement of these clinical skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University, Philadelphia 19129, USA.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sachdeva
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wolfson
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gillum
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Gracely
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D002983:Clinical Competence; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D010808:Physical Examination; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*