March 3, 2010 at 1:47 am (articles)
Authors: D Widyandana, G D Majoor, A J J A Scherpbier
Background
Early clinical exposure of medical students is supposed to improve preparation for prospective clinical rotations. Hence, students prepared exclusively in a skills laboratory were compared with peers for whom part of their skills training programme was substituted by training in a primary health centre (PHC).
Summary of work
Over a 5-week period 153 fourth-year (pre-clinical) medical students trained clinical skills exclusively in a skills lab; 59 of their peers received a mixed programme of laboratory trainings and practice in PHC. Students’ perception of preparedness and clinical skills achievement were assessed through the Preparation for Hospital Practice Questionnaire (PHPQ) and a 9-station OSCE exam.
Summary of results
Students taking the mixed programme felt significantly better prepared for clinical rotations than exclusively skills lab-trained peers. Mean OSCE scores of both groups did not differ significantly. Students’ preparedness scores did not correlate with their General Point Average (GPA) and OSCE scores.
Conclusion
Adding clinical skills training in a PHC setting to skills lab trainings improved students’ perception of preparedness for clinical rotations. However, this mixed programme did not improve students’ clinical and academic performance. Take home message Early clinical encounters may improve students’ perception of preparedness for clinical rotations. However, tangible impact on clinical and academic performance remains to be demonstrated.
Accepted As: Oral Presentation
in OTTAWA Conference 2010, Miami, Florida, US
further information, please contact: widyandana@yahoo.com
About the author