Holly Williamson, BA
Medical Student, OMS-II
Rocky Vista University
Golden, Colorado, United States
Elexia Wright, BS
Medical Student, MS3
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Aurora, Colorado, United States
Samantha Koerber, MD, MPH
Resident Physician
University of Colorado
Aurora, Colorado, United States
Anthony Lordi, MSBS, MHS
Medical Student, OMS-II
Rocky Vista University, College of Osteopathic Medicine
Denver, Colorado, United States
This study assessed medical students’ exposure to PM&R and examined the effectiveness of an educational PM&R Fair on understanding PM&R’s scope and patient populations served by physiatrists. Gaps identified will inform how to improve the promotion of impactful rehabilitation education. Medical students were surveyed before and after attending a PM&R Fair with 10 stations hosted by physiatry residents, fellows and attendings. Pre- and post-event surveys included demographics, baseline exposure to PM&R, and awareness of the patient population. We used descriptive statistics and paired t-tests to identify the impact of the PM&R Fair (p< 0.05). Our PM&R Fair effectively increased medical students’ understanding of physiatrists’ roles (most notably in inpatient settings) and their patients’ needs, despite high prior awareness of PM&R. These findings emphasize the importance of providing educational opportunities early in medical school to increase knowledge of the diversity of PM&R as a specialty and patient populations served by physiatrists.
Design:
Results: Forty medical students attended the PM&R Fair. Although 69% heard about PM&R before medical school, only 17-21% had previous shadowing experience. Following the PM&R Fair, there was a significantly increased understanding of PM&R’s role in inpatient settings (increased by 39%) and outpatient settings (increased by 28%) (p< 0.001). Results also indicated 31% improved awareness of patient populations who see PM&R physicians (p< 0.001), 27% increased understanding of these patients’ unique medical needs (p< 0.001), and 22% increased comprehension of the impact of disability on activities of daily living and quality of life (p< 0.001). Students reported increased perception of PM&R's value (p=0.002), confidence in defining PM&R (p< 0.001), and agreement in viewing PM&R physicians as leaders in multidisciplinary care to optimize patient function (p< 0.001). Participants rated the value of the fair as 9.3/10 (STD=1.2) for increasing PM&R knowledge and 9.6/10 (STD=0.87) for likelihood to recommend the fair to others.
Conclusions:
