Evaluation of two teaching methods of musculoskeletal physical examination

Abstract

Objective To assess the effectivenss of musculoskeletal physical examination teaching methods.Methods 70 long-term graduate medical students from Peking University,Health Science Center were taught randomly using the methods of structured clinical instruction modules( SCIM )and small group bedside teaching.All students were debriefed at the end of each unit of clinical skills teaching for student feedback on their teaching experience using a standardized questionnaire,and all students underwent an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in clinical skills.The effectiveness of the two methods of teaching on the students' performance was analyzed.Results The subjective evaluation of SCIM in teaching of musculoskeletal examination was better than small group bedside tutorials,but there was no difference in satisfaction and OSCE performance between small group teaching methods and SCIM.There was no statistically significant difference in the performance of students in the hip,knee and lumber spine OSCE stations (P＞0.05),but students taught by SCIM performing better in the cervical spine and shoulder station ( P=0.028 ).Conclusions The SCIM is an effective method of teaching clinical skills in musculoskeletal physical examination,comparable with small group bedside teaching,but its utility in clinical skill teaching will depend on the availability of teaching resource and reallocation of time. Key words: Musculoskeletal examination teaching; Structured clinical instruction modules; Small group bedside teaching