Appraising and applying evidence about a diagnostic test during a performance-based assessment

George Bergus; Scott Vogelgesang; Janeta Tansey; Ellen Franklin; Ronald Feld

doi:10.1186/1472-6920-4-20

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Appraising and applying evidence about a diagnostic test during a performance-based assessment

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Appraising and applying evidence about a diagnostic test during a performance-based assessment

George Bergus, Scott Vogelgesang, Janeta Tansey, Ellen Franklin and Ronald Feld

BMC medical education, Vol.4(1), pp.20-20

10/13/2004

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-4-20

PMCID: PMC526196

PMID: 15482600

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https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-4-20View

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Abstract

Background: The practice of Evidence-based Medicine requires that clinicians assess the validity of published research and then apply the results to patient care. We wanted to assess whether our soon-to-graduate medical students could appraise and apply research about a diagnostic test within a clinical context and to compare our students with peers trained at other institutions. Methods: 4th year medical students who previously had demonstrated competency at probability revision and just starting first-year Internal Medicine residents were used for this research. Following an encounter with a simulated patient, subjects critically appraised a paper about an applicable diagnostic test and revised the patient's pretest probability given the test result. Results: The medical students and residents demonstrated similar skills at critical appraisal, correctly answering 4.7 and 4.9, respectively, of 6 questions (p = 0.67). Only one out of 28 (3%) medical students and none of the 15 residents were able to correctly complete the probability revision task (p = 1.00). Conclusions: This study found that most students completing medical school are able to appraise an article about a diagnostic test but few are able to apply the information from the article to a patient. These findings raise questions about the clinical usefulness of the EBM skills possessed by graduating medical students within the area of diagnostic testing.

Details

Title: Subtitle: Appraising and applying evidence about a diagnostic test during a performance-based assessment
Creators: George Bergus - Department of Family Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Scott Vogelgesang - Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Janeta Tansey - Department of Psychiatry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Ellen Franklin - The Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Ronald Feld - Department of Pathology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: BMC medical education, Vol.4(1), pp.20-20
DOI: 10.1186/1472-6920-4-20
PMID: 15482600
PMCID: PMC526196
NLM abbreviation: BMC Med Educ
ISSN: 1472-6920
eISSN: 1472-6920
Publisher: BioMed Central; London
Language: English
Date published: 10/13/2004
Academic Unit: Physician Assistant Studies; Psychiatry; Pathology; Family and Community Medicine; Internal Medicine; Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984006405602771

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