Comparisons of Medical Student Knowledge Regarding Life-Threatening CT Images Before and After Clinical Experience

Abstract

Introduction. Currently, no national standard exists for educating
medical students regarding radiography or formal research indicating
the level of improvement regarding computed tomography
(CT) interpretation of medical students during clinical rotations.

Methods. Students were evaluated based on their response to
twenty-two open-ended questions regarding diagnosis and treatment
of eleven de-identified CT images of life-threatening injuries.
The number of incorrect answers was compared with
correct or partially correct answers between students starting
third-year clinical rotations and those starting their fourth year.

Results. Survey results were collected from 65 of 65 (100%) beginning
third-year students and 9 of 60 (15%) beginning fourthyear
students. Students in their fourth-year had less incorrect
answers compared to third-year students, with five questions
reflecting a statistically significant reduction in incorrect responses.
The image with the least incorrect for both groups was
epidural hemorrhage, 33.9% and 18.5% incorrect for third-year
students for diagnosis and treatment, respectively, and 11.1%
and 0% incorrect for fourth-year students. Outside of this image,
the range of incorrect answers for third-year students was
75.4% to 100% and 44.4% to 100% for fourth-year students.

Conclusion. Baseline CT knowledge of medical students,
regardless of clinical experience, indicated a strong deficit,
as more students were incorrect than correct for the
majority of CT images. KS J Med 2017;10(3):55-58.