Impact on medical students of incorporating GALS screen teaching into the medical school curriculum

Objective-To assess the impact of GALS locomotor screen teaching to all 3rd year medical students, at a British medical school. Method-In 1998, during their 3rd year, all students were taught the GALS sc reen in a one hour small group session. At the end of this year, 242 medica l students undertook a 16 station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). One station assessed the locomotor screening examination, while si x stations assessed the examination of other systems. The students complete d a five point Likert scale, self rating their confidence in each of the sk ills assessed at this time. Preregistration house officers (PRHOs) at two L ondon hospitals were invited to undertake the same OSCE and self rating. Results-The students performed the locomotor screen well (mean station scor e 80%). Three body systems were examined better and one significantly worse (p<0.05). 22/40 PRHOs undertook the assessment. Compared with the students they examined the locomotor system (mean score 20%, p<0.001), but not othe r systems, less well. The PRHOs felt less confident (p<0.05) examining the locomotor system (mean rating 3.6/5) than the other systems (mean rating 4. 6/5), while no significant difference in confidence ratings was seen for th e students. Conclusion-Students who are taught the GALS screen as part of the curriculu m, perform it well in an end of year OSCE, as confidently as other systems, and to a higher standard than PRHOs. Further study is required to determin e whether this benefit persists, overcoming the poor skills and confidence in locomotor examination of existing PRHOs, not previously taught a GALS sc reen.