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 screen in a one hour small group session. At the end of this year, 242 medical students undertook a 16 station Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). One station assessed the locomotor screening examination, while six stations assessed the examination of other systems. The students completed a five point likert scale, self rating their confidence in each of the skills assessed at this time. Pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) at two London hospitals were invited to undertake the same OSCE and self rating.
RESULTS: The students performed the locomotor screen well (mean station score 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 other 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 the students.
CONCLUSION: Students who are taught the GALS screen as part of the curriculum, 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 determine whether this benefit persists, overcoming the poor skills and confidence in locomotor examination of existing PRHOs, not previously taught a GALS screen.