Abstract
ObjectiveDuring psychiatric rotation, clerkship students must learn the clinical skill of recording an accurate Mental Status Examination (MSE). The authors built a video e-library consisting of 23 authentic patient videos that were accessible on a secure website during the rotation period, aimed at assisting students’ acquisition of MSE skills.MethodsThe authors conducted a prospective case comparison study investigating the impact of the video e-library as “add-on” intervention, on acquisition of MSE skills, as measured by a test consisting of three videos with adjoining forced choice questionnaires. Eighty-five clerkship students had instructions and access to the video e-library whereas 82 did not. A group of clinicians, unfamiliar with the video e-library, was also subjected to the new MSE skills test and they served as a reference group. Outcome was defined as scores of MSE skills measured by the purpose made MSE skills test and entailed evaluation questions on the students’ use of the e-library.ResultsThe MSE skill test score differed between the three groups, and the clinicians scored higher than both student groups (clinicians mean score (M) 12.6; p < 0.001). However, the students with video access scored higher compared to students without access (M 10.7 versus M 9.9, p = 0.04). The e-library was appreciated by the students as helpful (83.6%) and they used it not only for practicing the MSE but also for observation of interviewing techniques.ConclusionThe e-library with video vignettes of authentic patients strengthens MSE skills as “add-on” to the psychiatric rotation, and evaluations by the students were positive.
Highlights
After an initial developmental phase, we considered it pertinent to investigate whether access to the video elibrary as add-on to standard psychiatric rotation enhances clerkship students’ Mental Status Examination (MSE) skills as measured by a forced choice test (MSE skills test)
167 students were included at the beginning of the psychiatric rotation and were expected to participate in the MSE skills testing at the end of the study
We have shown an improvement in MSE skills among students that had access to a video e-library during psychiatric rotation in accordance with our study hypothesis
Summary
Clerkship students, enrolled at CPHU and assigned to a 3week clinical rotation in psychiatry in their 5th year of the 6year medical curriculum, were asked to participate in the study They had rotation in the public psychiatric hospitals of two different geographical regions, with 3 rotation schedules each term, during the fall term of 2017 and the spring term of 2018. The MSE skills test was only offered to students participating in this study and not part of routine assessment It was administered at the end of the 3-week rotation and it consisted of three subtests each consisting of a video vignette, not accessible in the library (i.e., none of the students had seen it previously) with a forced choice test (FCT). The categorical response options in the questionnaires were analyzed as continuous measures and these as well as student baseline variables were tested for difference by Student’s independent two-tailed t test
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