title: Impact of a Revised Curriculum Focusing on Clinical Neurology and Musculoskeletal Care on a Required Fourth-Year Medical Student Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clerkship.
abstract: Background. A Required Fourth-Year Medical Student Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Clerkship was found to increase students' knowledge of PM&R; however the students' overall rotation evaluations were consistently lower than the other 8 required clerkships at the medical school.Objective. To describe the impact of a revised curriculum based upon Entrustable Professional Activities and focusing on basic pain management, musculoskeletal care, and neurology.Setting. Academic Medical Center.Participants. 73 fourth-year medical students.Methods. The curriculum changes included a shift in the required readings from rehabilitation specific topics toward more general content in the areas of clinical neurology and musculoskeletal care. Hands-on workshops on neurological and musculoskeletal physical examination techniques, small group case-based learning, an anatomy clinical correlation lecture, and a lecture on pain management were integrated into the curriculum.Main Outcome Measurements. Student evaluations of the clerkship.Results. Statistically significant improvements were found in the students' evaluations of usefulness of lecturers, development of patient interviewing skills, and diagnostic and patient management skills (p≤ 0.05).Conclusions. This study suggests that students have a greater satisfaction with a required PM&R clerkship when lecturers utilize a variety of pedagogic methods to teach basic pain, neurology and musculoskeletal care skills in the rehabilitation setting rather than rehabilitation specific content.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: John W
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6065-5402
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Norbury
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Clinton E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Faulk
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Harrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Academic Affairs, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Luan E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Moore