Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums, for communication between foot health professionals about podiatry and related topics.
You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members (PM), upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, earn CPD points and access many other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisments in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
This is an interesting spat in Australia. First some senior medical professionals said: Medical students fail basic anatomy
Quote:
TEACHING of basic anatomy in Australia's medical schools is so inadequate that students are increasingly unable to locate important body parts - and in some cases even confuse one vital organ with another.
Senior doctors claim teaching hours for anatomy have been slashed by 80per cent in some medical schools to make way for "touchy-feely" subjects such as "cultural sensitivity", communication and ethics. The time devoted to other basic sciences - including biochemistry, physiology and pathology - has also been reduced.
Several senior consultants have told The Weekend Australian they have been "horrified" to encounter final-year medical students who do not know where the prostate gland is, or what a healthy liver feels like.
When asked by a cardiac surgeon during a live operation to identify a part of the heart that he was pointing to, one group of final-year students thought it was the patient's liver.
A coalition of senior doctors appealed this week to the federal Government to step in, claiming public safety was at stake and that national benchmarks for teaching the basic medical sciences were urgently needed.
<cut>
The heads of Australia's medical schools fiercely contest the criticisms, saying there has been an "explosion" of medical knowledge that doctors need to know, in fields such as genetics and new drugs, and that other areas have to be cut to accommodate the newer topics. They also strenuously deny that they are turning out inadequately trained doctors.
But many students are also unhappy about core science training. One group of students wrote anonymously to two noted academics last year, saying they were "sick of being asked, 'Didn't you study anatomy?"' by consultants amazed by the gaps in their knowledge.
"How can we learn if we are not taught the basics?" they wrote. ...
Medical students defend skill level
Medical students are angry over claims today that some graduating doctors are not educated well enough in anatomy.
They say that while the teaching of anatomy can be improved, those going through the current medical courses will still graduate as competent doctors.
Australian Medical Students' Association president, Teresa Cosgriff, says students are worried that these claims will cause people to lose their trust in young doctors.
"We don't want to see that sort of put down of the future generation of doctors, because it could affect the relationship we share with our patients," she said.
"In the end we are very skilled doctors and bright students, we'll cope with the system, and we'll treat our patients well."
Dynamic Chiropractic are reporting: MDs, Med Students Still Deficient in Musculoskeletal Knowledge
Quote:
The fact that allopathic physicians and medical students lack adequate knowledge of the musculoskeletal system is not news to chiropractors.
The most recent study to examine this educational gap shows that, while medical students continue to feel unprepared to deal with musculoskeletal complaints, they rate learning about such conditions to be of high importance.3 Charles S. Day, MD, and colleagues at Harvard Medical School conducted a survey of 449 medical students during the 2005-2006 academic year. The researchers wanted to determine the importance students placed on musculoskeletal education in terms of their future medical careers, as well as their clinical confidence in performing musculoskeletal exams. In addition, students were given a competency exam to assess their cognitive understanding of musculoskeletal medicine....
The most recent study to examine this educational gap shows that
Musculoskeletal Medicine: An Assessment of the Attitudes and Knowledge of Medical Students at Harvard Medical School. Academic Medicine. 82(5):452-457, May 2007.
Day, Charles S; Yeh, Albert C.; Franko, Orrin; Ramirez, Miguel; Krupat, Edward:
Quote:
Purpose: To assess medical students' knowledge and clinical confidence in musculoskeletal medicine as well as their attitudes toward the education they receive in this specialty.
Method: A cross-sectional survey of students in all four years of Harvard Medical School was conducted during the 2005-2006 academic year. Participants were asked to fill out a 30-question survey and a nationally validated basic competency exam in musculoskeletal medicine.
Results: The response rate was 74% (449/608). Medical students rated musculoskeletal education to be of major importance (3.8/5) but rated the amount of curriculum time spent on musculoskeletal medicine as poor (2.1/5). Third-year students felt a low to adequate level of confidence in performing a musculoskeletal physical examination (2.7/5) and failed to demonstrate cognitive mastery in musculoskeletal medicine (passing rate on competency exam: 7%), whereas fourth-year students reported a similar level of confidence (2.7/5) and exhibited a higher passing rate (26%). Increasing exposure to the subject by taking clinical electives resulted in greater clinical confidence and enhanced performance on the exam (P < .001). Students' feedback suggested that musculoskeletal education can be better integrated into the preclinical curriculum, more time should be spent in the field, and more focus should be placed on common clinical conditions.
Conclusions: These findings, which are consistent with those from other schools, suggest that medical students do not feel adequately prepared in musculoskeletal medicine and lack both clinical confidence and cognitive mastery in the field. Implementing a four-year integrated musculoskeletal curriculum is one way that medical schools can address this concern.
Medical Students Anatomy Knowledge
Linear Mode
