Effect of Bedside Physical Diagnosis Training on Third-Year Medical Students' Physical Exam Skills

Background: Graduating medical students, when surveyed, noted a deficit in training in physical examination skills. Purposes: In an attempt to remedy this deficit we implemented a pilot program for 3rd-year medical students consisting of twice-weekly bedside diagnosis rounds as part of their 8-week medicine clerkship. Methods: To assess the success of this program we reviewed students' objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) scores at the completion of the clerkship compared with prior years' students who did not have the bedside physical diagnosis training. Results: Students who were trained (n = 109) had an overall higher OSCE physical exam score (p < .01) than students without the training (n = 85). Conclusions: Bedside physical diagnosis rounds appear to have elevated the overall OSCE score for 3rd-year medical students.