Thread by @cjcarrubbaMD

Thoughts on #endometriosis from the perspective of medical education 🧵

USMLE and shelf examinations make endo seem super easy. It’s a young woman with pelvic pain & some combo of infertility, dyspareunia, and dyschezia

Throw some OCPs at the problem and boom, case closed

Students don’t talk about endo as a cause of urinary symptoms. Many have it on their list as a cause of heavy abnormal bleeding.

Most have no idea that MRI is useful for diagnosis and few know when to refer for surgery or how to manage patients after surgery

Why does this matter? For non-OBGYN’s, this limited knowledge might be the most they ever learn about endometriosis.

This results in delayed diagnosis, poor management, and poor referrals.

Obviously this isn’t limited to endometriosis (or even women’s health), but it definitely sticks out in light of the poor funding for research in women’s health and deficiencies in education on this topic

At the end of the day, I do medical education for a living and 90% of what I know about endo came from my wife’s fellowship and subsequent career in MIGS.

Questions that feel easy after talking to her for a day often come in at under 10% correct on question banks

Medical education starts at the level of the school and the USMLE & COMLEX.

Changes in how these exams cover endo could have a huge impact on student education and subsequent patient care

#USMLE #MedEd #obgyntwitter #Medstudent #NBME #WomensHealth