Improving the skills training of the junior medical students can junior medical students attain a comparable skills competence to senior students?

Abstract

Context: The system-based curriculum adopted at Alzaeim Alazhari University (AAU) (Sudan), entails integration of basic sciences, clinical knowledge and skills training during preclerkship period. Aim: The aim of this study was to illustrate how the utilization of the clinical skills laboratory (CSL) may improve the skills acquisition of preclerkship students and be assessed by Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Settings and Design: clinical skills laboratory of the faculty of medicine AAU For the evaluation of the skills competency of junior medical students a case-controlled design was selected Subjects and Methods: All the required tools and materials were prepared. The skills required established. Groups of 10 students attended four sessions of 2 h in the CSL. The skills consisted from different procedural stations. Skills were taught and practiced on manikins, simulated patients and peer examinations. The competency of the junior students and a control group of senior students were evaluated by an OSCE. S tatistical Analysis Used: The results of the OSCE of the subjects (junior students) and control (senior students) were analyzed using SPSS version 13 as a software. All the values of the descriptive statistical analysis were expressed as percentages (mean ± standard deviation). P ≥0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Junior students scored higher in two procedural stations and the overall score. Senior students obtained higher marks in physical examination and images interpretation stations. Higher scores of junior students in the procedural stations are because they used hands-on skills and senior students learned through observation. Conclusions: Junior students trained in the CSL, can attain comparable skills competency to senior students. They can outperform senior students in procedural skills. This confirms that CSL training can improve skills acquisition.