Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Surgery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
J Vasc Surg. 2019 Jul;70(1):241-245.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2018.12.042. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
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.
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.
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.
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.
先前的数据表明，医生对周围动脉疾病（PAD）的了解并不理想。我们的目的是评估加拿大医学生对 PAD 的知识，以确定在医学培训早期是否存在这一知识差距。
我们对多伦多大学的应届医学毕业生进行了一项描述性、横断面、基于访谈的研究。我们使用标准化问卷评估学生对 PAD 和冠心病（CAD）的知识，评估领域包括临床表现、危险因素、预防措施、治疗和并发症。我们计算了每个 CAD 和 PAD 知识领域的平均（标准差[SD]）分数，并检查了 PAD 与 CAD 分数之间的差异。
本研究共有 72 名应届医学毕业生参加，其中女性占 58%。几乎所有参与者都报告通过医学院课程接触过 PAD（89%）和 CAD（92%）。总体而言，医学生在识别 CAD 特征方面的得分更高（平均[SD]分数为 16.4[2.7]），而 PAD 为 14.6[3.2]（P<0.0001）。这种差异是由于学生在识别 PAD 危险因素（P<0.0001）、预防措施（P=0.049）和并发症（P<0.0001）方面的表现较差所致，而 CAD 则不然。课外接触（例如，临床轮转、研究经验）对学生对 PAD 和 CAD 的知识有积极影响。
我们的研究结果表明，医学生对 CAD 和 PAD 的知识都不理想。尽管它们具有共同的动脉粥样硬化危险因素和心血管并发症，但与 CAD 相比，医学生不太可能将这些危险因素与 PAD 联系起来。我们建议在医学院开设一个综合课程，纳入所有动脉粥样硬化疾病的表现，以增强学生对这些病理学的理解。
