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Prior to 2007, instruction relied on volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, and faculty development for hospital-based teaching. In 2007, delivery shifted to a geographically central session, prompting expansion of recruited patients, faculty, and examining rooms across five years (2008–2012). Students valued volunteer patients most, with small groups ranked second, and the method was adopted as an advanced examination pathway component.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/volunteer-patients-and-small-groups-contribute-to-abdominal-examinations-success/317031/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/volunteer-patients-and-small-groups-contribute-to-abdominal-examinations-success/317031.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Aditya","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What questions does the study aim to answer?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study addresses three questions: whether volunteer patients and faculty recruitment could be quadrupled, which elements students valued most (volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, or faculty training), and whether volunteer patients and/or faculty would agree to participate again.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How were the teaching sessions organized and expanded?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Across five years (2008–2012), 43–46 patients and 43–46 faculty were recruited each year, and students were divided into 43–46 groups. Faculty attended a 1-hour development session, teachers demonstrated the exam, students practiced on peers, and then performed the full examination on volunteer patients.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What teaching elements received the most positive student feedback?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Students provided the most positive spontaneous comments about having volunteer patients. Small groups were the second most appreciated educational element.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},317031,1790242380,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":44,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},962085564549,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","Advances in Medical Education and Practice downloaded from [https://www.dovepress.com/](https://www.dovepress.com/)  \nFor personal use only.  \nAdvances in Medical Education and Practice Dovepress  \nopen access to scientific and medical research  \n Open Access Full Text Article O RIG INAL RESEARCH  \nVolunteer patients and small groups contribute to abdominal examination’s success  \nHelen M Shields 1  \nNielsen Q  \nFernandez-Becker2  \nSarah N Flier2  \nByron P Vaughn2  \nMelissa H Tukey2  \nStephen R Pelletier 3 Douglas A Horst2  \n1 Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 2 Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 3Center for Evaluation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA  \nCorrespondence: Helen M Shields Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA, 02115, USA  \nTel + 1 617 525 9315  \nFax + 1 617 525 8740  \nEmail [hmshields@bwh.harvard.edu](hmshields@bwh.harvard.edu)  \nThis article was published in the following Dove Press journal: Advances in Medical Education and Practice  \n1 November 2017  \nNumber of times this article has been viewed  \nBackground: Prior to 2007, we taught the abdominal examination in a hospital based group to 40 students, at one hospital. We used volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, and required faculty development sessions. In 2007, our medical school changed its “Introduction to Physical Examination” session so that the entire class was to be taught in a geographically central session. Our hospital was selected to lead the abdominal examination portion of the session. Aim: Our aim was to answer three questions. First, could we quadruple the recruitment of volunteer patients, and faculty? Second, was it volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, or faculty training that was most valued by the students? Third, would volunteer patients and/or faculty agree to participate a second time?  \nMethods: A total of 43-46 patients and 43-46 faculty were recruited and 43-46 examining rooms were obtained for each of the 5 years of this study. Teachers were required to attend a 1-hour faculty development session. The class of about 170 students was divided into 43–46 groups each year. The teacher demonstrated the abdominal examination and each student practiced the examination on another student. Each student then repeated the full abdominal examination on a volunteer patient. Results: Over the 5-year time period (2008–2012), the abdominal examination ranked first among all organ systems’“Introductory Sessions”. The abdominal examination ratings had the best mean score (1.35) on a Likert scale where 1 is excellent and 5 is poor. The students gave the most positive spontaneous comments to having volunteer patients, with small groups coming in as the second most appreciated educational element.  \nConclusion: We successfully quadrupled the number of faculty, patients, and examining rooms and created a highly rated educational program as measured by anonymous student evaluations, patient and faculty participation, and the medical school’s selecting the abdominal examination methods as an “Advanced Examination” for the Pathways Curriculum.  \nKeywords: abdominal examination, volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, faculty development  \nBackground  \nResidency directors and others have noted significant variability in the physical examination skills of medical students, residents, and attending physicians.1–8 Controversy exists, however, about the basic questions of when and how students should learn their physical examination skills.9 Should they be taught before, during, or after their clerkships?9 In addition, the best methods for teaching the abdominal examination have been explored and debated. 10,11 Should real patients10–13 or standardized patients be used?14–16 Should lay patient teachers17or dummies18 be included as effective teaching tools? Should in","cbCaifzi6WgcBYNn","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifzi6WgcBYNn","pdf",367550,"English","# Background\n# Aim\n# Methods\n# Results\n# Conclusion\n# Keywords","[{\"question\":\"What questions does the study aim to answer?\",\"answer\":\"The study addresses three questions: whether volunteer patients and faculty recruitment could be quadrupled, which elements students valued most (volunteer patients, small groups, repetition, or faculty training), and whether volunteer patients and/or faculty would agree to participate again.\"},{\"question\":\"How were the teaching sessions organized and expanded?\",\"answer\":\"Across five years (2008–2012), 43–46 patients and 43–46 faculty were recruited each year, and students were divided into 43–46 groups. Faculty attended a 1-hour development session, teachers demonstrated the exam, students practiced on peers, and then performed the full examination on volunteer patients.\"},{\"question\":\"What teaching elements received the most positive student feedback?\",\"answer\":\"Students provided the most positive spontaneous comments about having volunteer patients. Small groups were the second most appreciated educational element.\"}]","Volunteer patients and small groups contribute to abdominal examination’s success | PDF",1789927956,23]