Domestic violence: increasing knowledge and improving skills with a four-hour workshop using standardized patients.
OBJECTIVE
Domestic violence (DV) is common, yet physicians feel unprepared to address it. Educational interventions may improve the care provided to DV victims, yet the effectiveness of interventions is often unproven.


METHODS
Written questions and DV-specific standardized patient (SP) checklist items from an end-of-clerkship and fourth-year comprehensive multispecialty (the Clinical Performance Examination or CPX) examinations of medical students participating in a DV workshop using SPs was compared with nonparticipants.


RESULTS
DV workshop participants' and nonparticipants' written question mean scores were 93.2% and 85.8%, respectively, p =.02. End-of-clerkship SP examination DV-specific checklist scores for participants and nonparticipants was 76.3% and 60.0%, respectively, p =.002. Workshop participants scored 44.1% on the CPX DV-specific checklist items versus 35.6% for the nonparticipants, p =.01.


CONCLUSIONS
A DV workshop improved knowledge and skills assessed four and an average of 27 weeks later.
Haist
Steven A
SA
Kentucy Clinic, Lexington 40536, USA. sahaist@uky.edu
Wilson
John F
JF
Pursley
Holly G
HG
Jessup
Michelle L
ML
Gibson
Jacqueline S
JS
Kwolek
Debra G
DG
Stratton
Terry D
TD
Griffith
Charles H
CH
D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012044:Regression Analysis