Practical versus Theoretical Teaching of Abnormal Physical Examination Findings to Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- 1Medical Education
- 2Department of Medical Education
Abstract
Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Liam J FernyhoughMedical Education, Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, Doha, QatarCorrespondence: Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Email [email protected]: 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
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BibTeX
@article{alsuwaidi2026practical,
title = {{Practical versus Theoretical Teaching of Abnormal Physical Examination Findings to Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial}},
author = {Al-Suwaidi AM and Fernyhough LJ},
journal = {Advances in Medical Education and Practice},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
url = {https://www.dovepress.com/practical-versus-theoretical-teaching-of-abnormal-physical-examination-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Practical versus Theoretical Teaching of Abnormal Physical Examination Findings to Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
AU - Al-Suwaidi AM
AU - Fernyhough LJ
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Advances in Medical Education and Practice
UR - https://www.dovepress.com/practical-versus-theoretical-teaching-of-abnormal-physical-examination-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP
AB - Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Liam J FernyhoughMedical Education, Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, Doha, QatarCorrespondence: Abdulla Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, Email [email protected]: 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
SN - 1179-7258
ER -