摘要：Background and aims: dystonia is a neurological movement disorder characterized by patterned, directional and usually sustained muscle contractions, frequently causing repetitive twisting movements or abnormal postures. It affects more than 40,000 people in the UK. Medical students in the UK have only a 5-6 week attachment within a neurology department to come across this important condition. The primary aim of this study is to determine the extent of awareness and knowledge medical students in their clinical years posses about this condition. In addition, as a secondary aim, we also wanted to observe if undertaking a clinical attachment in neurology or observing/clerking patients with dystonia have a significant impact on their knowledge of this condition. Methods: a questionnaire comprising of a range of choice based (single best answer and multiple choice) and mental recall based assessment techniques (short answer questions) were constructed with expert input to assess knowledge of dystonia. Following two pilot studies and revision of the questionnaire, it was administered to a group of medical students. A total of 51 medical students out of 140 who were contacted participated in the study. The outcomes for the secondary aim were analyzed via the Chi-squared test and, where not possible due to sample size, the Fisher’s exact test. Results: in terms of the overall knowledge and awareness of dystonia, a large number of students seem to already have a good grasp of what the term dystonia implies, its basic pathology and epidemiology. In addition, there is strong evidence to suggest that undertaking a clinical attachment in neurology or clerking a patient with dystonia does not contribute significantly to developing a sound knowledge base and awareness of this medical condition. However, caution must be applied to interpreting these results, as there was a large difference between the provision of correct answers to choice-based and mental recall based assessment techniques as proven in this study. Conclusion: medical students in their clinical years appear to have an acceptable awareness of dystonia in choice based assessments; however this appears to decline in mental recall based assessments. In addition, a clinical attachment within a neurology department or clerking a patient with dystonia does not appear to significantly increase their overall knowledge of the condition. We conclude by proposing that incorporation of this condition within the curriculum of medical students and exposing them to a patient based lecture on dystonia may help to increase their awareness of this condition
