gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The basis of acquiring medical skills remains in the clinical environment alongside patients, where students consolidate theory through practice. The experience of working in a clinical environment results in more efficient and professional patient care.

We aimed to investigate the differences in examination scores of preclinical students attending only tutor classes compared to students previously attending clinical rotations and lectures using a simulation of managing a critically ill patient.

Methods: We included 84 third- to sixth-year students from both Faculties of Medicine in Slovenia participating in KLINIKFEST – the annual clinical skills meeting organised by peer tutors. Students were divided into two groups – the first had almost no clinical environment training, while the other group had at least one year of experience in a clinical environment. All students first received a theoretical lecture on sepsis and the ABCDE approach and then attended a simulation using the iStan manikin, where they had to perform life-saving procedures based on the lecture that was given to them previously. While attending the simulation, they were evaluated via a uniform evaluation tool.

Results: Evaluation results among students who had previously participated in a clinical environment compared to those who had not did not differ (p=0.212), 53.2 points compared to 61.5 points, respectively. Also, the simulation duration between the two groups was similar (p=0.428), 40 minutes compared to 41.3 minutes, respectively.

Conclusions: There was no difference in scored points or time spent between the students who have taken part in clinical environment learning and those who have not. Our results could indicate that the tutoring system is effective at giving students basic clinical knowledge and skills, with the clinical environment representing knowledge consolidation. Further analysis is needed to evaluate whether the length of time after the lecture affects performance in the simulation.