The impact of trained patient educators on musculoskeletal clinical skills attainment in pre-clerkship medical students

Abstract

Background: Despite the high burden of musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases, few generalists are comfortable teaching MSK physical examination (PE) skills. Patient Partners in Arthritis (PPIA) is a standardized patient educator program that could potentially supplement current MSK PE teaching. This study aims to determine if differences exist in MSK PE skills between non-MSK specialist physician and PPIA taught students. Methods. Pre-clerkship medical students attended 2-hour small group MSK PE teaching by either non-MSK specialist physician tutors or by PPIA. All students underwent an MSK OSCE and completed retrospective pre-post questionnaires regarding comfort with MSK PE and interest in MSK. Results: 83 students completed the OSCE (42 PPIA, 41 physician taught) and 82 completed the questionnaire (42 PPIA, 40 physician taught). There were no significant differences between groups in OSCE scores. For all questionnaire items, post-session ratings were significantly higher than pre-session ratings for both groups. In exploratory analysis PPIA students showed significantly greater improvement in 12 of 22 questions including three of five patient-centred learning questions. Conclusions: PPIA MSK PE teaching is as good as non-MSK specialist physician tutor teaching when measured by a five station OSCE and provide an excellent complementary resource to address current deficits in MSK PE teaching. © 2011 Oswald et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.