Table 1.
Main characteristics of the included studies
| Author (Year) |
Country of origin | Number of subjects |
Control group |
Questionnaire | Physical exam involved |
Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Afonso et al. (2010) |
US |
307 (II year) |
no | yes | Generic physical examination | Physical exam. Skills↑ |
|
Ahn et al. (2015) |
US |
150 (II year) |
yes | yes | Palpation of the femoral pulse and estimation of the location of the femoral vein |
US > notUS Self-confidence↑ |
|
Barloon et al. (1998) |
US |
46 (II year) |
yes | no | Measurement of liver span | US > notUS |
|
Butter et al. (2007) |
US |
170 (I year) |
yes | yes |
Abdominal examination Liver measurement |
DelayedUS > immediateUS Physical exam. Confidence↑ DelayedUS ≈ immediateUS |
|
Dinh et al. (2015) |
US |
301 (I year) |
yes | yes | OSCE assessment |
US > notUS Physical exam. Skills↑ |
|
Fodor et al. (2012) |
Romania |
104 (III year) |
yes | yes |
Thyroid palpation Lung percussion and liver size estimation by palpation-percussion. |
US ≈ notUS US > notUS Physical exam. Skills↑/≈a |
|
Hoppmann et al. (2011) |
US |
not declared (I, II, III, IV year) |
no | yes | Generic physical examination | Physical exam. Skills↑ |
|
Hoppmann et al. (2015) |
US |
not declared (I, II, III, IV year) |
no | yes | Generic physical examination | Physical exam. Skills↑ |
|
Jamniczky et al. (2015) |
Canada |
137 (I year) |
no | yes | Generic physical examination | Physical exam. Skills↑ |
|
Legget et al. (2018) |
New Zealand |
8 (V, VI year) |
yes | no | Auscultation of heart murmurs | US ≈/> notUS |
|
Liu et al. (2019) |
US |
68 (I, II year) |
yes | yes | OSCE assessment |
US > notUS Physical exam. Confidence↑ |
|
Parikh et al. (2018) |
US |
93 (II year) |
no | yes | Female pelvic examination and testicular examination | Physical exam skills↑ |
|
Rempell et al. (2016) |
US |
38 (II year) |
no | yes | Generic physical examination | Physical exam skills↑ |
|
Sweetman et al. (2013) |
Australia |
194 (I, II year) |
yes | no | Gastro-intestinal tract examination | US < notUS |
|
Walrod et al. (2018) |
US |
27 (I year) |
yes | no | Palpation of knee and shoulder | US ≈ notUS |
US - Ultrasound training; Exam. – Examination; ↑ - Improvement; > − Better results than; < − Worst results than; ≈ − Similar results
a- depends on the physical exam involved: self-reported confidence in clinical skills showed a statistically significant increase in the US group only for thyroid palpation and liver size estimation