0120 Simulation And Undergraduate Medical Education: Medical Students’ Clinical And Non Technical Skills

Abstract

Background A major challenge for medical undergraduates is the application of theoretical knowledge to the management of acutely ill patients1. It is essential for medical students to develop appropriate clinical and non technical skills, however opportunities are limited in the undergraduate training and simulation is underutilised1. We aimed to assess final year medical students’ clinical and non technical skills through simulated scenarios. Method Students were divided into groups and received the same medical emergencies scenarios. Students were marked for their clinical and non technical skills using the Anaesthetics Non Technical Skills scoring system. A scoring system was designed to assess clinical skills for patient initial assessment. Mean value was calculated for the clinical and non technical skills. Medical students were also asked to provide the number of the simulation sessions that they received during their training. Feedback was also obtained for the simulation sessions. Results Between April 2014 – May 2014, 20 final year medical students have received simulation sessions so far. Medical students demonstrated a mean score of 13.3/16. With regards to non technical skills medical students demonstrated acceptable non technical skills in each of the four domains: Task management (mean: 3.18 ± 0.23), Team working (mean: 3.1 ± 0.5), Situational Awareness (mean: 3 ± 0.5), Decision making (mean: 3.1 ± 0.25). Medical students during their overall training have received a mean number of 4.35 simulation sessions (range 1–7). 50% of them were delivered at Croydon University hospital. 100% of students found the simulation sessions extremely useful and they addressed descriptively the need for more simulation sessions. Potential impacts According to our observations, final year medical students demonstrate acceptable clinical and non technical skills. However the number of simulation sessions that they receive during their undergraduate training is remarkably low and therefore consideration must be given in implementing simulation curriculum in the final year of undergraduate training.2 References Weller J, Simulation in undergraduate medical education: bridging the gap between theory and practice, Med Ed 2004; 38: 32–38 Weller J, Nestel D, Marshall S et alet al. Simulation in clinical teaching and learning, Med J Aust 2012; 196 (9): 594