Use of Radiologic Imaging to Enhance Physical Diagnosis Instruction in the Preclinical Curriculum

Abstract

To expose students in the premedical years to imaging and its indications, to enhance their understanding of pathologic processes by allowing direct visualization, and to teach physical diagnosis through an integrated, multispecialty approach. A total of 166 second-year medical students participated in a novel imaging session that accompanied the physical diagnosis course they were concurrently enrolled in. Students were provided a didactic orientation to imaging and taught how to use Picture Archiving and Communications System software. The students then participated in interactive imaging sessions in which they were able to scroll through entire imaging cases of real, anonymized patients with accompanying clinical scenarios and physical examination findings. Of 89 students responding to an online curricular feedback questionnaire, 41% believed that the imaging correlated with the other information taught in the course and 46% found it was helpful to their learning. The majority of students (64%) believed that the sessions helped challenge them to think about physical diagnosis in a different way. Physical diagnosis on the wards requires a multispecialty approach and the early introduction of this technique through the integrated mode of teaching we present will benefit students in their clinical years and future careers.