title: Effectiveness of a computer-aided neuroanatomy program for entry-level physical therapy students: anatomy and clinical examination of the dorsal column-medial lemniscal system.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine if a computer-aided instruction learning module improves students' knowledge of the neuroanatomy/physiology and clinical examination of the dorsal column-medial lemniscal (DCML) system. Sixty-one physical therapy students enrolled in a clinical neurology course in entry-level PT educational programs at two universities participated in the study. Students from University-1 (U1;) had not had a previous neuroanatomy course, while students from University-2 (U2;) had taken a neuroanatomy course in the previous semester. Before and after working with the learning module, students took a paper-and-pencil test on the neuroanatomy/physiology and clinical examination of the DCML system. Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests were used to determine if differences existed between neuroanatomy/physiology examination scores and clinical examination scores before and after taking the learning module, and between student groups based on university attended. For students from U1, neuroanatomy/physiology post-test scores improved significantly over pre-test scores (p < 0.001), while post-test scores of students from U2 did not (p = 0.60). Neuroanatomy/physiology pre-test scores from U2 were significantly better than those from U1 (p < 0.001); there was no significant difference in post-test scores (p = 0.062). Clinical examination pre-test and post-test scores from U2 were significantly better than those from U1 (p < 0.001). Clinical examination post-test scores improved significantly from the pre-test scores for both U1 (p < 0.001) and U2 (p < 0.001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, California State University, Sacramento, 6000 J St, Solano Hall 4030, Sacramento, CA 95819-6020, USA. mmckeough@csus.edu
authors.forename: D Michael
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: McKeough
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mattern-Baxter
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barakatt
mesh_terms: D015510:Clinical Medicine / Q000193:education*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D009445:Neuroanatomy / Q000193:education*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000193:education*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*