gms | German Medical Science

Background: As medical students advance to higher levels of their education they have to be able to perform some of the basic medical procedures.

Our research question: Is there a connection between the practical experience (probation on a patient, on a manikin, or both) and Year-4, 5 and 6 medical students self-assessed clinical skills competency (see table 1 [Tab. 1])?

Summary of Work: We gave out questionnaires to Year-4, 5 and 6 medical students (N=109). They had to specify whether they have tried venepuncture, face-mask usage, endotracheal intubation, bladder catheterization, intramuscular injection application, CPR, rectal examination, ECG-recording, defibrillation and infusion set-up on a patient, on a manikin, on both or have never tried it before. They specified whether they feel competent about performing each of this procedure on a patient on their own.

Summary of Results: Students’ level of competency with venepuncture, endotracheal intubation, rectal examination, ECG-recording and infusion set-up rises with the level of their practical experience – it is the smallest if they tried it on a simulator only, and it rises if they tried in on a patient or both patient and simulator. Type of practical experience seems to have no influence on students’ competency when it comes to face-mask usage, bladder catheterization, intramuscular injection application, CPR and defibrillation.

Conclusions: Practicing some clinical skills on manikins makes students feel competent enough to do it on a patient. On the other hand, some technically demanding or invasive procedures need to be performed on a real patient under the supervision of clinicians in order to make students feel competent about performing them independently. Take-home Message Simulation seems to be an important way of making students feel competent about performing practical procedures, but in some instances learning on a patient under the supervision of a clinician is of great importance.