{
  "abstract": "Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Liam J FernyhoughMedical Education, Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, Doha, QatarCorrespondence: Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Email aalsuwaidi3@hamad.qaIntroduction: Approximately 10% of diagnostic errors can be attributed to the physical examination portion of a clinical workup. Physical examination skills among medical students are deficient but what is deficient in the students’ ability to examine is unclear. Teaching physical examination using task-trainers has been viewed positively but medical programs often lack dedicated task-trainer sessions for teaching abnormal physical examination. We hypothesize that teaching abnormal findings practically is better than teaching them theoretically.Methods: The study had two sections: survey and task-trainer sections. The survey was distributed to all medical college students. Many students proceeded to the task trainer section where they were randomized 1:1 to either a control (theoretical abnormal) or experimental (practical abnormal) session that covered cardiopulmonary physical examination. Task-trainer students performed pre- and post-intervention quizzes, an OSCE-style final evaluation, and a final survey.Results: Students overwhelmingly had positive comments regarding the session and suggested integrating them in preclinical years. Experimental arm students passed the OSCE-style evaluation at a significantly higher rate than control students (68.3% vs 33.3%, respectively). There is no statistically significant change in pre-post quiz scores between arms.Conclusions: Compared to theoretically teaching abnormal findings, task trainer-based abnormal physical examination teaching increases the students’ technique quality, ability to elicit findings, reasoning, and ability to diagnose correctly.Keywords: Physical examination, task-trainer, diagnosis",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Medical Education",
    "Department of Medical Education"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Al-Suwaidi AM"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Fernyhough LJ"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/80240vcrc8gda.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": null,
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.dovepress.com/practical-versus-theoretical-teaching-of-abnormal-physical-examination-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP",
  "id": "80240vcrc8gda",
  "issns": [
    "1179-7258"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.dovepress.com/practical-versus-theoretical-teaching-of-abnormal-physical-examination-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "LC8-6691"
    ],
    [
      "lcc",
      "R5-920"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "Dove Medical Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/80240vcrc8gda.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T14:20:53Z",
      "native_id": "2a08598477c84ae28ef262e269a9b493",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://www.dovepress.com/practical-versus-theoretical-teaching-of-abnormal-physical-examination-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:2739|Innovations in Medical Education",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Practical versus Theoretical Teaching of Abnormal Physical Examination Findings to Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial",
  "title_text": "Practical versus Theoretical Teaching of Abnormal Physical Examination Findings to Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T14:20:55Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/80240vcrc8gda",
  "venue": "Advances in Medical Education and Practice",
  "versions": []
}