The perspectives of final year medical students for one year training experience in clinical skills laboratory in Erbil

Abstract

Background and objective: The aim of this study was to provide a general description of a new experience of introducing teaching in clinical skills laboratory to the final year students of Hawler College of Medicine and to assess the students’ perspectives of one year training experience in the newly established clinical skills laboratory. Methods: This study was based on a self-administered questionnaire survey of 79 final year medical students. The questionnaire included 31 statements related to the physical environment of the clinical skills laboratory, duration of clinical skills practice, quality of clinical skills teaching and usefulness of clinical skills laboratory. Each statement was rated on a five-point Likert scale. Results: Most students were satisfied with the location of the clinical skills laboratory (62.8%) and appropriateness of educational atmosphere of the laboratory (59%). Less than half of the students were satisfied with adequacy and appropriate use of educational equipments. Students had concerns about the short duration of clinical skills practice and unavailability of structured and well explained guidelines (36.7%). Majority of students indicated that they prefer to take sessions in the skills laboratory and practice before dealing with real patients (78.1%) and have earlier integration of teaching in clinical skills laboratory in the medical study curriculum (71.8%). Conclusion: This short and new experience of training in clinical skills laboratory was positively recognized in general. The study identified shortcomings in a number of aspects that need to be addressed to improve the experience.