| Although electromyography and electrodiagnosis (EMG-EDX) is one
of the most fundamental skills in rehabilitation medicine, the number of residency
programs that can provide comprehensive postgraduate EMG-EDX training is still
limited in Japan. Under these circumstances, we started a 2-day primer course
in EMG-EDX at Keio University Hospital in 1998. To review our 7-year experience
with the course, we analyzed the number and specialty of the participants, their
appraisal of the lectures and practical sessions, and the score distribution
of the final examination. The number of participants totaled 288 during the
past 7 years, and the mean number for each year was 41. The distribution by
specialty for the whole period was 64.0% for rehabilitation medicine, 25.4%
for orthopedic surgery, 5.1% for neurology, 1.0% for pediatrics, 0.5% for gerontology
and 4.1% for physical therapists and occupational therapists. The difficulty
levels of the lectures were judged as appropriate by 81 to 95.5% of the participants,
and the presentation was judged as good by 34 to 67% of them. For the practice
sessions, the difficulty levels were judged as appropriate by 88% of the participants,
and the quality of the supervisors was judged as good by 64% of them. The mean
score for the final examination was 56.0 (SD 15.2, median 60). In conclusion,
our course has played an important role to promote EMG-EDX in our country by
providing compact introductory exposure to EMG-EDX for beginners. A follow-up
system for the course graduates is planned to support their EMG-EDX practice. |
