The effects of an intervention to teach medical students about obstructive sleep apnea

To assess the effects of teaching clinically relevant core concepts about obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to third-year core clerkship students in internal medicine.

The curriculum included a lecture and case-based discussions about OSA at one clerkship site consisting of six groups of core clerkship students in the graduating Classes of 2000 and 2001 at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Students who received exposure to a lecture followed by case-based discussions (n=130) were compared to students at clerkship sites who did not (n=129). Outcomes were measured using a station on the required end-of-rotation Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), consisting of 13 items and 36 points.

When compared to groups of students who did not have a scheduled lecture and case-based discussions, those who did scored significantly higher (P

Our preliminary findings suggest that teaching third-year medical students information on OSA using a lecture- and case-based discussion makes a difference to a clerkship OSCE station assessing these competencies.