Effectiveness of a structured clinical program in paediatric undergraduate training

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a structured training program in Paediatrics during the clinical posting of final term undergraduates. Methods: 250 final term undergraduate students divided into 5 batches participated in the study. They were given a pretest questionnaire on specific topics and scored for a maximum of 10. The answers were corrected by 2 different examiners. The overall scores were categorized as poor (<5) average (5to7) and good (>7). A four week structured training program of 10 topics of Paediatrics was designed. It consisted traditional formats of teaching modules like general clinics, bedside clinics, ward rounds, procedures and therapeutic discussions. To maintain continuity and reinforce learning, a topic was selected as a theme of the day and various aspects of this topic were dealt with, during the interactions in the above modules. At the end of 4 weeks the post test (same questions and format of evaluation as pretest) was administered. The data was analyzed using Gamma test and McNemer's tests. P value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: In the pre-test, 77.7% scored poor and none of them had good scores. Post-test poor scores decreased to 8.9% and 23.13% had good scores. Astatistically significant improvement in the performance of the students' in the post-test was noted as compared to the pre-test. Conclusions: The structured training program which was used in this study resulted in significant improvement in the clinical knowledge of students.