Article

This project endeavored to create an educational module including methodology to
instruct physical medicine and rehabilitation residents in the evaluation and
appropriate treatment of patients with neuromuscular disorders. It further sought
to verify acquired competencies in neuromuscular rehabilitation through objective
evaluation methodology. An American Association of Neuromuscular and
Electrodiagnostic Medicine board-certified physician with 10 yrs of clinical
experience in neuromuscular and general rehabilitation trained 19 residents using
a standardized competency-based module. The residents were trained through
clinical training, lectures, and review of self-assessment examination concepts
from the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation syllabus provided
in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. After delivery of the
educational module, knowledge acquisition and skill proficiency were measured in
(1) completion of neuromuscular history and physical examination satisfactorily,
(2) diagnosis and ability to design a patient care management plan via chart
stimulated recall examinations, (3) physician-patient interaction via patient
surveys, (4) physician-staff interaction via 360-degree global ratings, and (5)
ability to write a comprehensive patient care report and to document a patient
care management plan in accordance with Medicare guidelines via written patient
reports. Assessment tools developed for this program address the basic
competencies outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education. To test the success of the standardized educational module, data were
collected on an ongoing basis. The objective measures compared resident
self-assessment examination scores in neuromuscular rehabilitation before and
after the institution of the comprehensive neuromuscular competency module in the
residency program. Nineteen (100%) of 19 residents successfully demonstrated
proficiency in every segment of the evaluation module by the end of the
postgraduate year 2 inpatient neuromuscular rehabilitation rotation. Furthermore,
the residents' proficiency, as demonstrated by the evaluation after the
implementation of the standardized educational module, positively correlated with
an increase in the residents' self-assessment examination scores in neuromuscular
rehabilitation compared with the residents' scores before the educational module
implementation throughout all 3 yrs of training. Resident proficiency in the
skills and knowledge pertaining to neuromuscular rehabilitation were objectively
verified after completion of the standardized educational module. Validation of
the assessment tool is evidenced by the collected data correlating with
significantly improved self-assessment examination scores, as outlined in the
"RESULTS" section. In addition, the clinical development tool was validated by
the residents being individually observed performing history and physical
examinations and being deemed competent by the American Association of
Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine board-certified physical medicine
and rehabilitation physician. The standardized educational module and evaluation
methodology provide a potential framework for the definition of baseline
competency in the clinical training area of neuromuscular rehabilitation.

Langue : ANGLAIS