1819 - Zooming into Physiatry: Evaluating Medical Student Exposure to PM&R Through A Virtual Didactics Platform

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) is a rapidly growing specialty. The absence of affiliated PM&R departments at many medical schools limits opportunities for early exposure to the field. The Pennsylvania PM&R (PA PM&R) Fellowship was established to provide free educational, volunteer, and mentorship opportunities for medical students across Pennsylvania and beyond. Central to its mission are virtual didactics and interactive workshops designed to expand access to rehabilitation education. This study aims to assess the need for virtual didactics in broadening student exposure to PM&R and improving understanding of clinically relevant topics.

Design:

In this study, surveys were administered before three virtual didactic sessions. Surveys assessed the confidence level of baseline knowledge about various rehabilitation topics using a five-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating no familiarity and 5 indicating high familiarity. Low familiarity was defined as a rating of 2 or less. Home medical school exposure to physiatry, graduation year, and school affiliation with a PM&R residency program were also evaluated. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

Pre-didactic survey data were compiled from three educational events. Many participants reported not having had exposure to physiatry in their medical school (44.6%, or 105/235 respondents). Additionally, many participants lacked a home PM&R clinical rotation (39.6%, or 93/235 respondents). Individual survey data reported low familiarity with the following foundational concepts: spinal cord injury rehabilitation (53.9%, or 7/13 respondents); admitting a patient to acute inpatient rehabilitation (59.5%, or 113/190 respondents); and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation (73.7%, or 140/235 respondents).

Conclusions:

This preliminary study highlights the need for accessible PM&R education to support students lacking formal exposure and mentorship. We propose this virtual platform as a template for creating a robust statewide resource.