School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Division of Neurosurgery, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Br J Neurosurg. 2022 Dec;36(6):728-736. doi: 10.1080/02688697.2022.2106355. Epub 2022 Aug 11.
Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common and progressive neurological condition caused by injury of the cervical spinal cord by degenerative spinal pathology. Delayed diagnosis leading to avoidable and irreversible disability is a major current problem limiting patient outcomes. Lack of sufficient representation of DCM in undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricula may contribute to poor recognition of DCM by non-specialist doctors. The objective of this study was to assess the DCM teaching provision in UK medical schools and the DCM knowledge of UK medical students.
UK medical students completed a web-based survey distributed nationally through university social media pages, university email bulletins and the national student network of Myelopathy.org. The survey comprised a 19-item questionnaire capturing data on student demographics, myelopathy teaching and myelopathy knowledge. Advertisements were repeated monthly over a 12-month recruitment period and participation was incentivised by entry into an Amazon voucher prize draw. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee, University of Cambridge (PRE.2018.099).
A total of 751 medical students from 32 British medical schools completed the survey. Medical students from all year groups participated. Most students (520; 72%) had not received any medical school teaching about DCM. When students had received DCM teaching, the duration of teaching was minimal (75% < 1 h). A total of 350 students (47%) reported conducting private study on DCM. Modal student self-rating of their own knowledge of DCM was '' (356; 47%). There was no correlation between a student's subjective rating of their knowledge and their answers to objective questions. A total of 723 (96%) of students expressed interest in learning more about DCM, with lectures the preferred format.
DCM appears to be a neglected condition in medical education which has implications for clinical practice. However, student enthusiasm to undertake private study suggests future teaching interventions will be well-received. Future work is necessary to characterise the format of DCM teaching that is most effective and to subsequently measure how educational interventions translate into clinical benefits.
退行性颈脊髓病（DCM）是一种常见的进行性神经系统疾病，由颈椎脊髓的退行性脊柱病理学引起的损伤引起。导致不可避免和不可逆转残疾的诊断延迟是限制患者预后的当前主要问题。本科和研究生医学课程中对 DCM 的代表性不足可能导致非专科医生对 DCM 的识别较差。本研究的目的是评估英国医学院的 DCM 教学情况和英国医学生的 DCM 知识。
英国医学生通过大学社交媒体页面、大学电子邮件公告和 Myelopathy.org 的全国学生网络，完成了一项在线调查。该调查包括一份 19 项的问卷，收集了学生人口统计学、脊髓病教学和脊髓病知识的数据。广告每月重复一次，为期 12 个月的招募期，并通过参与亚马逊代金券抽奖来激励参与。该研究得到了剑桥大学心理学研究伦理委员会（PRE.2018.099）的伦理批准。
共有 751 名来自 32 所英国医学院的医学生完成了调查。所有年级的医学生都参与了调查。大多数学生（520 名；72%）没有接受过任何关于 DCM 的医学院教学。当学生接受 DCM 教学时，教学时间极短（75%<1 小时）。共有 350 名学生（47%）报告说对 DCM 进行了私人学习。学生对自己 DCM 知识的自我评估模式为“中等”（356 名；47%）。学生对自己知识的主观评价与他们对客观问题的回答之间没有相关性。共有 723 名（96%）学生表示有兴趣更多地了解 DCM，他们更喜欢讲座的形式。
DCM 在医学教育中似乎是一种被忽视的疾病，这对临床实践有影响。然而，学生对进行私人学习的热情表明，未来的教学干预措施将受到欢迎。未来的工作需要确定最有效的 DCM 教学形式，然后衡量教育干预措施如何转化为临床益处。
