Semiology and radiology integration: a new trend in the teaching-learning process

Abstract

Introduction: The development of clinical reasoning to diagnose diseases and order ancillary tests, such as radiology imaging, is based on history-taking and physical examination skills, which are developed during the semiology course. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the results of the innovative integration of two courses in the medical curriculum at our institution: Medical Semiology and Clinical Radiology. Methods: The sample consisted of 184 fifth-semester medical students attending the two courses simultaneously. Extra-class semiology-radiology sessions based on theoretical and practical topics integrating radiological images and semiological signs were conducted, and the results were assessed by applying a semi-structured questionnaire to the participants, in which all 18 items were rated on a scale from 0 (worst) to 10 (best). The normality hypothesis in score distribution was verified by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Shapiro-Wilk test. The distribution of the 18 scores were summarized by descriptive statistics and compared by Friedman’s test, with post-hoc test in pairwise comparisons adjusted by Bonferroni test. Correlations between the scores were determined by Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficients. Results: The overall mean score for the semiology-radiology sessions was high (8.55). Students were satisfied with the selection of clinical cases (8.46) and found that the semiology-radiology sessions contributed to the development of their clinical reasoning (8.58). Conclusion: Medical schools are facing new challenges in medical education. The innovative concept of Radiology-Semiology integrated teaching modality affects the students’ self-perception ability to interpret radiological images and might be an educational strategy trend.