Online Learning Radically Simplified

This course is intended for all students in the health professions who are learning how to conduct an effective physical examination. 

Starting in 2006, this course has been used by second-year Harvard medical students to assist them with learning key aspects of the physical examination.  The 38-question course focuses specifically on the important teaching points which second-year Harvard medical students found difficult to learn and/or remember.

Recently, this course was shown in a randomized trial to boost learning, to provide effective remediation, and to be well-accepted by students:
Kerfoot BP, Armstrong EG, O’Sullivan PN.  Interactive spaced education to teach the physical examination: a randomized controlled trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2008; 23(7):973-8.

The images in this course are from Bates’ Guide to Physical Examination, by Lynn S Bickley (9th edition), unless otherwise specified.  The book's publisher (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins / Wolters Kluwer) have generously given permission for their use.

The course covers physical examination topics across a broad range of organ systems:      
     (1) nerves,
     (2) head/neck,
     (3) heart/vessels,
     (4) thorax/lungs,
     (5) abdomen/pelvis,
     (6) skin, and
     (7) muscles/bones. 

This course is intended for all students in the health professions who are learning how to conduct an effective physical examination. 

The course was originally developed for the second-year Harvard medical students to assist them with learning key aspects of the physical examination.