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Short communication: final year students' deficits in physical examination skills performance in Germany
Markus Krautter1, Katja Diefenbacher2, Nadja Koehl-Hackert3
1Department of Nephrology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Background:
The physical examination of patients is an important diagnostic competence, but little is known about the examination skills of final-year medical students.
Aims:
To investigate physical examination skills of final-year medical students.
Methods:
In a cross-sectional study, 40 final-year students were asked to perform a detailed physical examination on standardized patients. Their performances were video-recorded and rated by independent video assessors.
Results:
Video ratings showed a mean success rate of 40.1 % (SD 8.2). As regards accompanying doctor-patient communication, final-year students achieved a mean of no more than 36.7 % (SD 8.9) in the appropriate use of the corresponding communication items.
Conclusions:
Our study revealed severe deficits among final-year medical students in performing a detailed physical examination on a standardized patient. Thus, physical examination skills training should aim to improve these deficits while also paying attention to communicative aspects.
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