Evaluation of Resident Palpation Skills in Foot and Ankle Anatomic Structures Using Bedside Ultrasound.

Publication/Presentation Date

1-1-2020

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to determine the accuracy of foot and ankle joint and soft tissue structure palpation in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residents using ultrasonography (US) verification.

METHODS: PM&R residents were tested in an outpatient musculoskeletal (MSK) clinic on palpated foot and ankle anatomic structures in a human model. Once the presumed structures were localized, residents marked a 1 cm size circle on the overlying skin with a ink marker. The accuracy of the circle over the joint line and soft tissue structures was verified using US.

RESULTS: The overall palpation accuracy for 22 joint line and soft tissue structures was 38.0%. Accuracy by foot and ankle region, including the posterior, medial, lateral, plantar, and dorsal were 72.9%, 47.5%, 42.5%, 35% and 7.8% respectively. There was a positive trend with level of education without a statistically significant difference in palpation accuracy (30.4% in PGY-2, 38.3% in PGY-3, 44.2% in PGY-4, p = 0.11).

CONCLUSIONS: Residents in this study demonstrated suboptimal accuracy of foot and ankle anatomic structure identification by palpation. US may be a useful adjunctive tool to advance current methods of teaching musculoskeletal examination skills to PM&R residents.

Volume

1

Issue

3

First Page

161

Last Page

167

ISSN

2689-0216

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

37424710

Department(s)

Department of Medicine

Document Type

Article

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