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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background: Skin disease is a significant contributor to the global disease burden, with dermatologic health disparities adding to this burden. Internists, general practitioners, and other medical professionals often manage skin disease with limited exposure to dermatologic education in medical school. Objective: This study evaluated a brief educational intervention for medical students to improve dermatologic knowledge, diagnostic and communication skills, and comfort in performing dermatology-focused physical exams. A secondary focus of the intervention was to promote awareness of skin disease, detection, and prevention for patients with a variety of skin tones. Methods: Sixty-five first through fourth-year students at Rutgers RWJMS participated in a pre-test–post-test within-subject study. Students described images using open-ended responses followed by multiple-choice identification questions. Students watched a one-hour self-paced module created by a licensed dermatologist and completed a follow-up assessment. Results: At pre-test, descriptions were brief and often inaccurate but significantly improved post-intervention to include descriptors such as primary morphology and demarcation. Accuracy on diagnostic and management questions significantly improved and comfort in advising patients and performing dermatologic exams significantly increased. Conclusions: A low-cost, brief, self-paced module can augment dermatologic education for medical students while increasing exposure to multiple skin tone presentations of lesions.

Details

Title
Brief Teaching Intervention Improves Medical Students’ Dermatology Diagnostic Skills and Comfort in Performing Dermatology Exams
Author
Ricco, Cristina 1 ; Rao, Babar K 1 ; Pappert, Amy S 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Coppola, Kristen M 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Dermatology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Somerset, NJ 08873, USA[email protected] (A.S.P.) 
 Department of Psychiatry, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA 
First page
1453
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
22279032
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3084826376
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.