Effects of ultrasound implementation on physical examination learning and teaching during the first year of medical education.

Objectives: Increasing emphasis has been placed on point-of-care ultrasound in medical school. The overall effects of ultrasound curriculum implementation on the traditional physical examination skills of medical students are still unknown. We studied the effects on the Objective Standardized Clinical Examination (OSCE) scores of year 1 medical students before and after ultrasound curriculum implementation.

An analysis of standardised patient checklist errors and their effect on student scores.

Background: The frequency and nature of standardised patient (SP) recording errors during clinical performance examinations (CPX) have an effect on case scores and ultimately on pass/fail decisions.

Purpose: To determine the effect of SP recording errors on case scores.

Methods: Standardised patients completed checklists immediately after each encounter.