The Effect of Training in Primary Health Care Centers on Medical Students’ Clinical Skills

Abstract

Medical students' effective clinical skills training are an important goal of any medical school. When adequate, graduate doctors will have sufficient skills to consult a patient by taking proper history and conducting appropriate physical examination. The question under scrutiny is the optimal place for providing such training. Since the aim is to graduate general physicians, many literatures highlighted the importance of implementing such training in the primary health care centers. A special clinical skills training program was developed for the Year 4 pre-clerkship medical students of the Arabian Gulf University during the academic year 2011-2012. It was important for these students to acquire certain skills before transferring to the clerkship phase where they deal directly with patients. For the 130 students involved in this study, a self-assessment and clinical exam were conducted at the beginning and end of the program. The study showed that students benefited greatly from this training program with significant differences between their preexisting known skills and clinical skills acquired by the end of the program. Primary care centers are ideal places for optimal training because of small group training setting that is one tutor to two students and of the advantage that students face real patient environment.

Medical students' reflection on the family planning services at primary health clinics in Malaysia

“…The effective clinical skills training for medical students is the essential goal for medical institutions all around the world. [ 9 ] It is crucial for the final-year medical students to acquire the proper clinical knowledge before getting to the housemanship phase in Malaysia. MCH Clinics at the KK are the ideal places for the students to learn about the family planning services due to the small group training and learning from the health-care personal with the real patients in the community.…”

“…[ 8 ] Reflective writing on the students’ experiences on the learning environment is a strategy to measure the climate in the medical education. [ 9 ] The author also encouraged faculties to conduct the climate studies and apply the findings for the development of curriculum. [ 8 ] Therefore, authors studied the obtainable students’ reflections to explore their perceptions on the learning environment.…”

Has the inclusion of a longitudinally integrated communication skills program improved consultation skills in medical students? A pilot study

“…Community-based undergraduate training in the clinical years, supported by a longitudinal communication skills program with on-going faculty development, should ensure appropriate role modeling to reinforce a patient-centered approach. [ 26 28 29 ]…”

The emergence of a clinical skills laboratory and its impact on clinical learning: Undergraduate nursing students’ perspective in Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…Therefore, clinical laboratory sessions are a suitable way to teach nursing students how to deal with real-life situations. [5] Imran et al [6] maintain that it is important for students to acquire clinical skills in the skills laboratory, thus making such sessions the best option to assist health professional students to acquire clinical skills before being exposed to real-life settings. [6] These sessions serve to improve clinical acumen and understanding, as well as to enhance the competency of their clinical skills in healthcare settings.…”

“…Skills laboratory sessions also assist students to be efficient and effective when they are placed in hospital settings, as they can provide quality care to patients, based on the orientation acquired from the sessions. [5] However, students' effectiveness in the given sessions depends on the role played by clinical lecturers.The duties of clinical skills laboratory lecturers include planning and organising of teaching sessions, designing a learning programme and evaluating programmes to ascertain that the objectives have been met. Clinical skills laboratory lecturers are also expected to develop study materials, including study guides for skills training, to demonstrate clinical skills to students and to assess students regarding these skills, to measure their performance and to keep records as required.…”