A Comprehensive and Modality Diverse Cervical Spine and Back Musculoskeletal Physical Exam Curriculum for Medical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Musculoskeletal Physical Examination
• Cervical Spine and Back Assessment

Background:

• Physical examination (PE) is a core physician skill, crucial for diagnosis, especially for neck and back pain.
• University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine (UCISOM) revised its curriculum to enhance PE training for medical students.
• Previous teaching videos were found to be too long and not engaging, prompting the development of new, detailed resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess the efficacy of a new series of videos for teaching the cervical spine and back musculoskeletal physical exam.
• To provide medical students with engaging and detailed visual resources for mastering physical exam maneuvers.
• To improve the learning experience and confidence of students in performing cervical and back physical examinations.

Main Methods:

• A flipped classroom model was employed, utilizing video learning resources followed by in-person, hands-on sessions with standardized patients.
• Eight new videos demonstrating cervical spine and back musculoskeletal PE maneuvers were created, featuring UCISOM clinical faculty and standardized patients.
• Learners watched videos (in English or Spanish) and participated in small group practical sessions, with feedback collected via surveys.

Main Results:

• The videos received significant engagement, with 372 views/downloads and 318 unique viewers.
• Learner feedback indicated high satisfaction, with average ratings of 4.71/5 for educational quality, 4.63/5 for usefulness, and 4.56/5 for production quality.
• Survey responses from 31 learners (25% response rate) affirmed the videos' helpfulness and impact on confidence.

Conclusions:

• The developed video content is highly efficacious for teaching the cervical spine and back musculoskeletal physical exam to medical students.
• Integrating videos with other learning modalities, such as written materials or podcasts, can further enhance learning efficacy.
• Addressing issues like inaccurate auto-generated subtitles in multilingual content is important for optimizing educational resources.