Skip to main content
PMC home page
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal logoLink to CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal
. 1988 Oct 1;139(7):629–632.

Clinical skills of medical residents: a review of physical examination.

C Chan-Yan 1, J H Gillies 1, J Ruedy 1, J S Montaner 1, S A Marshall 1
PMCID: PMC1268251  PMID: 3416264

Abstract

Students are introduced to techniques of physical examination at medical school. However, their skills are deficient at the time of graduation, and with the increasing shift of clinical teaching away from the bedside and into the conference room it is expected that these skills will weaken in succeeding generations of physicians. A practical and satisfactory method of addressing this problem during internship and residency training has not been forthcoming because of the lack of a regular forum for the teaching of clinical skills in busy tertiary referral hospitals and the shortage of teachers with the necessary skills and commitment to teaching a large number of house staff. We describe a program whose unique hierarchical approach has permitted a detailed ongoing review of physical examination. One clinician was able to teach 24 residents by instructing a small group of senior residents, who in turn, after practising with clinical clerks, taught groups of junior residents.

Full text

PDF
629

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brown R. S. House staff attitudes toward teaching. J Med Educ. 1970 Mar;45(3):156–159. doi: 10.1097/00001888-197003000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Collins G. F., Cassie J. M., Daggett C. J. The role of the attending physician in clinical training. J Med Educ. 1978 May;53(5):429–431. doi: 10.1097/00001888-197805000-00013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Goetzl E. J., Cohen P., Downing E., Erat K., Jessiman A. G. Quality of diagnostic examinations in a university hospital outpatient clinic. Ann Intern Med. 1973 Apr;78(4):481–489. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-78-4-481. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hurst J. W. Osler as visiting professor: house pupils plus six skills. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Oct;101(4):546–549. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-101-4-546. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Linfors E. W., Neelon F. A. Sounding Boards. The case of bedside rounds. N Engl J Med. 1980 Nov 20;303(21):1230–1233. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198011203032110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Rubenstein W., Berkoff F. Introducing nutrition education in a family practice residency. J Med Educ. 1984 Feb;59(2):139–140. doi: 10.1097/00001888-198402000-00014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Shankel S. W., Mazzaferri E. L. Teaching the resident in internal medicine. Present practices and suggestions for the future. JAMA. 1986 Aug 8;256(6):725–729. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Stillman P. L., Swanson D. B., Smee S., Stillman A. E., Ebert T. H., Emmel V. S., Caslowitz J., Greene H. L., Hamolsky M., Hatem C. Assessing clinical skills of residents with standardized patients. Ann Intern Med. 1986 Nov;105(5):762–771. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-105-5-762. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Wiener S. L. Ward rounds revisited--the validity of the data base. J Med Educ. 1974 Apr;49(4):351–356. doi: 10.1097/00001888-197404000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Wiener S., Nathanson M. Physical examination. Frequently observed errors. JAMA. 1976 Aug 16;236(7):852–855. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Wray N. P., Friedland J. A. Detection and correction of house staff error in physical diagnosis. JAMA. 1983 Feb 25;249(8):1035–1037. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal are provided here courtesy of Canadian Medical Association

RESOURCES