title: The impact of trained patient educators on musculoskeletal clinical skills attainment in pre-clerkship medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the high burden of musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases, few generalists are comfortable teaching MSK physical examination (PE) skills. Patient Partners® in Arthritis (PP®IA) is a standardized patient educator program that could potentially supplement current MSK PE teaching. This study aims to determine if differences exist in MSK PE skills between non-MSK specialist physician and PP®IA taught students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-clerkship medical students attended 2-hour small group MSK PE teaching by either non-MSK specialist physician tutors or by PP®IA. All students underwent an MSK OSCE and completed retrospective pre-post questionnaires regarding comfort with MSK PE and interest in MSK.
  
  
  RESULTS
  83 students completed the OSCE (42 PP®IA, 41 physician taught) and 82 completed the questionnaire (42 PP®IA, 40 physician taught). There were no significant differences between groups in OSCE scores. For all questionnaire items, post-session ratings were significantly higher than pre-session ratings for both groups. In exploratory analysis PP®IA students showed significantly greater improvement in 12 of 22 questions including three of five patient-centred learning questions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PP®IA MSK PE teaching is as good as non-MSK specialist physician tutor teaching when measured by a five station OSCE and provide an excellent complementary resource to address current deficits in MSK PE teaching.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. oswald@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Anna E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.forename: Mary J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiseman
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Snell
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009141:Musculoskeletal System; D010358:Patient Participation; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011792:Quebec; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods