A supplemental video teaching tool enhances splinting skills.
BACKGROUND
The ability to apply casts and splints is a technical skill that requires practice and understanding of basic principles of musculoskeletal medicine. A video in which a given procedure is simulated on a dummy can represent reality under controlled conditions. A decrease in physician competency in musculoskeletal medicine is the result of educational deficiencies at the medical school level.


OBJECTIVE
We asked whether (1) a supplemental video educational program enhances performance of medical students' musculoskeletal clinical skills and (2) factors such as the proportion of orthopaedic professors to students, sex, age, and previous scores of medical students affected the clinical skills of medical students.


METHODS
We allocated 474 medical students into one of two groups: all participants received 90 minutes of lecture instruction on how to splint and cast but one group viewed the supplemental instructional video and the other did not. There were no differences in terms of sex, age, basic science exam scores, or grade point average of the groups. Thirteen specific skills in splinting an injured limb were evaluated. We recorded grade point averages. We developed a 10-point scoring system and graded each student on their splinting skills 6 months after the lectures.


RESULTS
The medical students who watched the video had an average score of 7.6, whereas the control group's average score was 2.0. We observed a positive association between watching the educational video and clinical exam score. A higher professor-to-student ratio was associated with lower student Objective Structured Clinical Examination score.


CONCLUSIONS
Our observations suggest a supplemental video instructional program improved the performance of musculoskeletal clinical skills in comparison to only a traditional lecture series.
Department of Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Saeed Reza
SR
Mehrpour
Mohamadreza
M
Aghamirsalim
Seyed Mohammad Kalantar
SM
Motamedi
Fatemeh
F
Ardeshir Larijani
Reza
R
Sorbi
D002983:Clinical Competence; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D013165:Splints; D013337:Students, Medical; D014743:Videotape Recording