THE USE OF OUTCOME MEASURES TO EVALUATE CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY CURRICULUM CHANGES

Objective. Five years ago we sought to change the comprehensive educat ional program of our rheumatology clinical training period for interna l medicine residents and develop a model to measure the outcome of the curriculum change. Methods. During the month-long clinical training p eriod in rheumatology, internal medicine residents participated in 10 interactive lectures on basic rheumatology with the faculty and worked through 26 case studies and radiographs of different rheumatic diseas es with the faculty. Separate pre and posttests were developed and adm inistered to the residents, both as evaluative and educational tools. Residents' performance on the rheumatology questions on the American B oard of Internal Medicien (ABIM) examination were compared before and after the curriculum change. Results. Comparison of pre to posttest re sults documented significant (p < 0.0001) improvement in the average r esident score. Resident performance on the rheumatology questions of t he ABIM examination improved markedly (average percentile rank for the 3 years before this change - 55.7% versus the first 4 years after the change - 82.5%; p < 0.05). Conclusion. This comprehensive educational program for internal medicine residents during the rheumatology clini cal training period resulted in significant short and longterm increas es in rheumatology knowledge base.