A Prospective Study of the Longitudinal Effects of an Embedded Specialty Curriculum on Physical Examination Skills Using an Ophthalmology Model

Abstract

Additional training successfully reinforced skills performance, which nonetheless decayed when not habitually practiced. Neither physical diagnosis preceptor ratings nor excellent performance in the FM ophthalmology module predicted subsequent skills performance in other clerkships or on simulator testing. The present study supports a reiterative retraining model for teaching this and other specialty physical examination skills.