Arthritis care and research : the official journal of the Arthritis Health Professions Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The utility of trained arthritis patient educators in the evaluation and improvement of musculoskeletal examination skills of physicians in training.
To determine the level of examination skills of internal medicine residents and to assess whether an intervention by trained persons with arthritis could have a greater impact on their examination skills than participation in an ambulatory care training experience. ⋯ Internal medicine residents carried out the musculoskeletal examination poorly. However, an intervention by arthritis educators improved the musculoskeletal examination skills of internal medicine residents significantly and more effectively than the standard clinical teaching in a rheumatology outpatient clinic. The impact of the arthritis educator intervention persisted for at least 5 weeks.