The addition of an upper-extremity curriculum in medical school education and its assessment.
This study assessed the impact of changes made to address the inadequate upper-extremity education through preclinical medical school curriculum reform. After the administration of a new upper-extremity curriculum, which also increased the time devoted to three preclinical medical school courses from 7.25 to 21.25 hours, second-year medical students were evaluated for mastery of these concepts through a national validated objective examination, and attitude and skill through clinical confidence and subjective surveys. After implementation of the new upper-extremity curriculum, students had significantly greater confidence in their ability to perform a physical examination but not in identifying differential diagnoses of the upper-extremity. Students were more satisfied with the amount of time spent on the musculoskeletal system but their performance in the national examination did not change.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston, MA, USA. cday1@bidmc.harvard.edu
C S
CS
Day
C S
CS
Ahn
Y
Y
Yu
D001900:Boston; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical; D034941:Upper Extremity