Project description:BackgroundDeficiencies in musculoskeletal knowledge are reported at every stage of learning. Medical programs are looking for effective ways to incorporate competency-based training into musculoskeletal education.AimTo evaluate the impact of bedside feedback on learner's shoulder examination skills, confidence, and knowledge of common shoulder conditions.SettingFour-week musculoskeletal clinic rotation.ParticipantsUCSD third year medical students and internal medicine residents.Program descriptionLearners completed three baseline evaluations: videotaped shoulder examination, attitude survey, and knowledge test. During the 4-week intervention learners received bedside observation and feedback from musculoskeletal experts while evaluating patients with shoulder conditions. Post-intervention learners repeated the three assessments.Program evaluationEighty-nine learners participated. In the primary outcome measure evaluating the pre/post videotaped shoulder examination, significant improvement was seen in 21 of 23 shoulder examination maneuvers. Secondary outcomes include changes in learner confidence and knowledge. Greatest gains in learner confidence were seen in performing the shoulder examination (61.5% improvement) and performing injections (97.1% improvement). Knowledge improved significantly in all categories including anatomy/examination interpretation, diagnosis, and procedures.DiscussionDirect observation and feedback during clinical evaluation of patients with shoulder pain improves shoulder examination competency, provider confidence, and knowledge of common shoulder conditions.
Project description:The COVID-19 crisis has forced a sudden and dramatic shift in the way that clinicians interact with their patients, from outpatient encounters to telehealth visits utilizing a variety of internet-based videoconferencing applications. Although many aspects of pre-COVID-19 outpatient sports medicine care will ultimately resume, it is likely that telehealth will persist because of its practicality and because of patient demand for access to efficient and convenient health care. Physical examination is widely considered a critical obstacle to a thorough evaluation of sports medicine patients during telehealth visits. However, a closer reflection suggests that a majority of the examination maneuvers are possible virtually with limited, if any, modifications. Thus, we provide a comprehensive shoulder and knee physical examination for sports medicine telehealth visits, including (1) verbal instructions in layman's terms that can be provided to the patient before or read verbatim during the visit, (2) multimedia options (narrated videos and annotated presentations) of the shoulder and knee examination that can be provided to patients via screen-share options, and (3) a corresponding checklist to aid in documentation.
Project description:BackgroundThe internet has an increasing role in both patient and physician education. While several recent studies critically appraised the quality and accuracy of web-based written information available to patients, no studies have evaluated such parameters for open-access video content designed for provider use.Questions/purposesThe primary goal of the study was to determine the accuracy of internet-based instructional videos featuring the shoulder physical examination.MethodsAn assessment of quality and accuracy of said video content was performed using the basic shoulder examination as a surrogate for the "best-case scenario" due to its widely accepted components that are stable over time. Three search terms ("shoulder," "examination," and "shoulder exam") were entered into the four online video resources most commonly accessed by orthopaedic surgery residents (VuMedi, G9MD, Orthobullets, and YouTube). Videos were captured and independently reviewed by three orthopaedic surgeons. Quality and accuracy were assessed in accordance with previously published standards.ResultsOf the 39 video tutorials reviewed, 61% were rated as fair or poor. Specific maneuvers such as the Hawkins test, O'Brien sign, and Neer impingement test were accurately demonstrated in 50, 36, and 27% of videos, respectively. Inter-rater reliability was excellent (mean kappa 0.80, range 0.79-0.81).ConclusionOur results suggest that information presented in open-access video tutorials featuring the physical examination of the shoulder is inconsistent. Trainee exposure to such potentially inaccurate information may have a significant impact on trainee education.
Project description:The Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) is an assessment tool used as a reliable method for clinical competence evaluation of students. This paper presents an investigation focused on the chain of survival, its related exploration, management, and technical skills, and how Virtual Reality (VR) can be used for the creation of immersive environments capable of evaluating students' performance while applying the correct protocols. In particular, the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) procedure is studied as an essential step in the development of the chain of survival. The paper also aims to highlight the limitations of traditional methods using mechanical mannequins and the benefits of the new approaches that involve the students in virtual, immersive, and dynamic environments. Furthermore, an immersive VR station is presented as a new technique for assessing CPR performance through objective data collection and posterior evaluation. A usability test was carried out with 33 clinicians and OSCE evaluators to test the viability of the presented scenario, reproducing conditions of a real examination. Results suggest that the environment is intuitive, quick, and easy to learn and could be used in clinical practice to improve CPR performance and OSCE evaluation.
Project description:Sensor-based remote monitoring could help better track Parkinson's disease (PD) progression, and measure patients' response to putative disease-modifying therapeutic interventions. To be useful, the remotely-collected measurements should be valid, reliable, and sensitive to change, and people with PD must engage with the technology. We developed a smartwatch-based active assessment that enables unsupervised measurement of motor signs of PD. Participants with early-stage PD (N = 388, 64% men, average age 63) wore a smartwatch for a median of 390 days. Participants performed unsupervised motor tasks both in-clinic (once) and remotely (twice weekly for one year). Dropout rate was 5.4%. Median wear-time was 21.1 h/day, and 59% of per-protocol remote assessments were completed. Analytical validation was established for in-clinic measurements, which showed moderate-to-strong correlations with consensus MDS-UPDRS Part III ratings for rest tremor (⍴ = 0.70), bradykinesia (⍴ = -0.62), and gait (⍴ = -0.46). Test-retest reliability of remote measurements, aggregated monthly, was good-to-excellent (ICC = 0.75-0.96). Remote measurements were sensitive to the known effects of dopaminergic medication (on vs off Cohen's d = 0.19-0.54). Of note, in-clinic assessments often did not reflect the patients' typical status at home. This demonstrates the feasibility of smartwatch-based unsupervised active tests, and establishes the analytical validity of associated digital measurements. Weekly measurements provide a real-life distribution of disease severity, as it fluctuates longitudinally. Sensitivity to medication-induced change and improved reliability imply that these methods could help reduce sample sizes needed to demonstrate a response to therapeutic interventions or disease progression.
Project description:Virtual Reality (VR) in orthopedic surgery has significantly increased in popularity in the areas of preoperative planning, intraoperative usage, and for education and training; however, its utilization lags behind other surgical disciplines and industries. The use of VR in orthopedics is largely focused on education and is currently endorsed by North American and European training committees. The use of VR in shoulder and elbow surgery has varying levels of evidence, from I to IV, and typically involves educational randomized controlled trials. To date, however, the terms and definitions surrounding VR technology used in the literature are often redundant, confusing, or outdated. The purpose of this review, therefore, was to characterize previous uses of VR in shoulder and elbow surgery in preoperative, intraoperative, and educational domains including trauma and elective surgery. Secondary objectives were to provide recommendations for updated terminology of immersive VR (iVR) as well as provide a framework for standardized reporting of research surrounding iVR in shoulder and elbow surgery.
Project description:Objective: Opioid pain medications are commonly prescribed postsurgically for pain. Few studies have investigated the effects of Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) on postsurgical pain and pain-medication use. To date, no studies have investigated BFA's effectiveness for reducing postoperative shoulder pain and pain-medication use post surgery. The objective of this study was to determine if adding BFA to a rehabilitation protocol was effective for reducing pain and use of prescribed pain medications, compared to that protocol alone after shoulder surgery. Materials and Methods: Forty Department of Defense beneficiaries (ages 17-55) were randomized to either a standard-of-care group or a standard-of-care + BFA group prior to shoulder surgery. The standard BFA protocol was administered with semipermanent acupuncture needles emplaced on the subjects' ears for 3-5 days within 24 hours after shoulder surgery in an outpatient physical therapy setting. BFA was reapplied, as needed, up to 6 weeks postsurgically for pain management in the intervention group. The primary outcomes were visual analogue scale (VAS) pain rating and daily pain medication use by each subject. Secondary outcome measures were the Global Rating of Change and Patient Specific Functional scale. Outcome measures were obtained at 24 hours, 72 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks post surgery. Results: Significant differences in average and worst VAS pain change scores were noted between baseline and 7 days (P < 0.05). The main effect for time was significant (average and worst VAS pain) at all timepoints (P < 0.05), without time-group interactions seen. No significant differences between the groups in pain-medication use were observed (P > 0.05) Conclusions: BFA reduced postsurgical shoulder pain significantly between the groups' average and worst pain change scores between baseline and 7 days despite similar opioid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use between the groups.
Project description:Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a common presentation in the primary care setting and can be significantly painful and disabling. The condition progresses in three stages: freezing (painful), frozen (adhesive) and thawing, and is often self-limiting. Common conservative treatments include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, oral glucocorticoids, intra-articular glucocorticoid injections and/or physical therapy. However, many physicians may find themselves limited to prescribing medications for treatment. This article elaborates on physical therapy exercises targeted at adhesive capsulitis, which can be used in combination with common analgesics.
Project description:IntroductionChildren with neuromuscular disabilities (NMD) receive care in a wide variety of clinical settings. Residents lack training to develop physical examination skills for evaluating patients with NMD. We devised a curriculum to teach residents how to examine patients with NMD using a systematic and simplified approach.MethodsCreation of this resource was a response to a survey of final-year residents that revealed the need for education focused on developing physical examination skills. The curriculum has four components-multimedia PowerPoint with embedded video, knowledge assessment, clinical exam (CEX) assessment, and module feedback-and was completed by 37 residents over an 8-month period from January to September 2016. We utilized knowledge assessment, direct clinical skills observation using the CEX, and module-feedback responses as part of the evaluation.ResultsAll 37 residents completed the curriculum, with an overall knowledge score of greater than 80%. Residents demonstrated most of the desired patient care behaviors on the CEX assessment and provided positive feedback on the quality, usefulness, and applicability of the module, in addition to requesting more curricula to develop their physical examination skills.DiscussionThe CEX assessment provided a unique opportunity for faculty feedback on residents' physical exam performance. After completing the module, residents achieved high scores in most areas of the standardized CEX and were able to conduct the NMD physical exam in a sensitive manner. The assessment highlighted the need to improve residents' skills of detecting abnormal clinical findings and communicating with the patient during the physical exam.