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Published on: August 9, 2024
The addition of an upper-extremity curriculum in medical school education and its assessment
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston, MA, USA. cday1@bidmc.harvard.edu
Abstract:
This study assessed the impact of changes made to address the inadequate upper-extremity education through preclinical medical school curriculum reform. After the administration of a new upper-extremity curriculum, which also increased the time devoted to three preclinical medical school courses from 7.25 to 21.25 hours, second-year medical students were evaluated for mastery of these concepts through a national validated objective examination, and attitude and skill through clinical confidence and subjective surveys. After implementation of the new upper-extremity curriculum, students had significantly greater confidence in their ability to perform a physical examination but not in identifying differential diagnoses of the upper-extremity. Students were more satisfied with the amount of time spent on the musculoskeletal system but their performance in the national examination did not change.
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