Community health screening as a teaching laboratory in physical diagnosis

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) provides sophomore medical students with an opportunity to perform history and physical examinations on actual patients through two free health screening clinics. Both a men's and a women's clinic are part of the physical diagnosis course and are preceded by lecture and laboratory teaching on the genitourinary system. Students are assigned to a patient whom they interview and examine under supervision by a faculty physician and clinic nurse. Women each receive a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear, digital rectal examination (DRE), and manual breast examination. Men each receive an examination for inguinal hernia, manual testicular examination, and DRE. Blood is drawn by the student for prostate-specific antigen determination. The health screening clinics are well accepted by the students and the community. They provide an excellent opportunity to expand our prevention education and early intervention services to the community.