Knowledge gap of peripheral artery disease starts in medical school

Musaad AlHamzah; Rachel Eikelboom; Mohamad A Hussain; Muzammil H Syed; Konrad Salata; Mark Wheatcroft; Subodh Verma; Mohammed Al-Omran

doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2018.12.042

Knowledge gap of peripheral artery disease starts in medical school

J Vasc Surg. 2019 Jul;70(1):241-245.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2018.12.042. Epub 2019 Mar 7.

Authors

Musaad AlHamzah¹, Rachel Eikelboom², Mohamad A Hussain³, Muzammil H Syed⁴, Konrad Salata³, Mark Wheatcroft⁵, Subodh Verma⁶, Mohammed Al-Omran⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Surgery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
³ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Division of Vascular Surgery, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Faculty of Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Vascular Surgery, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Cardiac Surgery, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The King Saud University-Li Ka Shing Collaborative Research Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Vascular Surgery, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The King Saud University-Li Ka Shing Collaborative Research Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: alomranm@smh.ca.

PMID: 30852036
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvs.2018.12.042

Abstract

Objective: Previous data suggest that physicians have suboptimal knowledge about peripheral artery disease (PAD). Our aim was to evaluate Canadian medical students' knowledge of PAD to determine if this knowledge gap exists early in medical training.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional, interview-based study of graduating medical students at the University of Toronto. We used a standardized questionnaire to evaluate students' knowledge of PAD and coronary artery disease (CAD) in the following domains: clinical presentation, risk factors, preventative measures, treatment, and complications. We calculated mean (standard deviation [SD]) scores for each CAD and PAD knowledge domain and examined for differences in PAD vs CAD scores.

Results: Seventy-two graduating medical students participated in this study, of which females accounted for 58%. Nearly all participants reported being exposed to PAD (89%) and CAD (92%) through their medical school curriculum. Overall, medical students scored better in identifying CAD characteristics (mean [SD] score, 16.4 [2.7]) compared with PAD (mean [SD] score, 14.6 [3.2]) (P < .0001). This difference was driven by the inferior performance of students in identifying risk factors (P < .0001), preventative measures (P = .049), and complications (P < .0001) of PAD compared with CAD. Out-of-class exposure (eg, clinical rotation, research experience) had a positive impact on students knowledge of both PAD and CAD.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate suboptimal knowledge of medical graduates of both CAD and PAD. Although they share common atherosclerotic risk factors and cardiovascular complications, medical students were less likely to associate these with PAD than CAD. We recommend a comprehensive module that incorporates all presentations of atherosclerotic disorders to enhance students' understanding of these pathologies in medical schools.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Coronary artery disease; Knowledge; Medical students; Peripheral artery disease.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Coronary Artery Disease* / diagnosis
Coronary Artery Disease* / physiopathology
Coronary Artery Disease* / therapy
Cross-Sectional Studies
Curriculum
Education, Medical, Undergraduate*
Educational Measurement
Educational Status
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Ontario
Peripheral Arterial Disease* / diagnosis
Peripheral Arterial Disease* / physiopathology
Peripheral Arterial Disease* / therapy
Students, Medical / psychology*
Universities