Disclosures: Jensine J. Norman, MD: Nothing to disclose

Objective: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) establishes milestones to evaluate resident physician’s development of physician competency. The ACGME also requires that programs have scheduled didactic sessions that “expose residents to topics [that are] appropriate to their level of education.” EMG conferences are one way of accomplishing this goal but are often not beneficial to residents who have not had clinical EMG exposure because they require a working knowledge of electromyography and interpretation of study data. We hypothesize that a progressive case conference course aimed at introducing common topics in EMG will improve the value of the didactic sessions.

Design: Resident’s current level of knowledge of EMG topics and perceptions of proficiency according to the ACGME milestones were assessed. Resident expectations based on PGY level were provided at the beginning of the course. Case topic outlines and reading material corresponding to each topic were provided in a digital library. Bi-monthly EMG Case Conference lectures were held according to an outline that started with introductory topics and progressed to case based presentations.

Setting: Residency Program

Participants: PM&R Residents

Interventions: Electromyography Case Conference

Main Outcome Measures Resident Perception Survey

Results : Prior to the course implementation, 62% of residents said the EMG didactics were of limited or some value. The overall knowledge of EMG was rated at very low or low for 75% of the residents. After the course, 60% of residents reported that the lectures were valuable with 83% stating their overall knowledge was at least moderate. The resident’s perceived proficiency at identifying sites of stimulation increased from 25% to 83%. 100% of residents surveyed felt engaged during the EMG Case Conferences.

Conclusions: A course curriculum that introduces EMG and neuromuscular topics can be introduced in a progressive manner. A case-based curriculum can increase resident’s perceptions of proficiency and EMG knowledge. This format also improves engagement in didactic lectures.

Level of Evidence: Level V

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/developing-a-progressive-emg-case-conference-curriculum/