Patients teach students: partners in arthritis education

Context A large metropolitan teaching hospital within The Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney. Objective To assess whether students taught by trained patients (Patient Pa rtners) acquire the same levels of competence in musculoskeletal examinatio n skills for arthritis as students taught by Consultant Rheumatologists. Subjects Year four medical students in a six-year Undergraduate Medical Pro gramme. Method Students randomized to eight tutorial groups were taught musculoskel etal examination skills in a 75-90 minute tutorial. Four groups were taught by Consultants with an untrained patient present and four groups were taug ht by Patient Partners. Results Students' mean self-ratings of skill before and after their tutoria l were summed. For both groups, self-ratings before the tutorial were simil ar. After the tutorial both groups showed substantial gains in levels of sk ill. Patient Partners' ratings of students' taught: by either Consultants o r Partners were comparable. Conclusions Patient Partners are at least equal to Consultant Rheumatologis ts in the teaching of musculoskeletal examination techniques for arthritis.