The Physical Therapist's Expertise in the Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum: An Academic Model for Integrated Health Care Education. Issue 4 (2016) - Geist, Kathleen
Abstract : Background and Purpose. : Patients presenting with acute musculoskeletal diagnoses comprise 15%‐20% of emergency room visits annually. Data suggest that musculoskeletal training is lacking in medical education curricula, and more formalized training is needed to increase the knowledge and proficiency of residents practicing in an emergency department (ED) setting. This paper describes a novel musculoskeletal training session for emergency medicine (EM) residents implemented by board‐certified orthopaedic clinical specialist physical therapy faculty, and their evaluation of the impact of the intervention on EM residents' performance on written and clinical examinations. Method/Model Description. : The intervention was a 1‐day hands‐on training session for EM first‐year and second‐year residents provided by the Emory physical therapy faculty with assistance from third‐year physical therapist students. Knowledge was assessed using written examinations pre‐ and post‐session. Skills and patient education were assessed using objective standardized clinical examinations (OSCEs) pre‐ and post‐session. Outcomes. : The EM residents' scores on the written examination increased from 10.1 (50.7%) pre‐session to 15.2 (76.0%) post‐session, P <.001. Although there was not a statistically significant difference between residents' OSCE scores pre‐ and post‐session, there was a statistically significant improvement in the residents' performance of special tests for the foot and ankle region. Discussion and Conclusion. : The integration of physical therapists into the provision of musculoskeletal education within the emergency medicine curricula is a novel concept. This paper emphasizes the role of physical therapists in providing a musculoskeletal training session and contributing to the integration of health care education via collaboration across health profession programs.