Skill training in internal medicine student clerkship at a university hospital

Park, Wan Beom; Hur, Min; Kim, Ah Reum; Seo, Mi Sung; Kim, Joo Sung; Kwon, Sung Tack; Lee, Yoon Seong; Shin, Jwa Seop

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study evaluated medical students' experience performing basic clinical skills with real patients in a tertiary hospital and their response to clinical skill training in the Skills Center during their clerkship in internal medicine.
METHODS
We surveyed 169 third-year students at the end of the internal medicine clerkship. The questionnaire included questions on their experience sampling blood and inserting intravenous (IV) catheters with real patients, success with their first patient, and the usefulness of the Skills Center during the clinical clerkship.
RESULTS
Of the 169 students, 145 (86%) answered the questionnaire. Two (5%) of 39 students had not sampled blood and 22 (56%) had not inserted an IV catheter during the 8 weeks of the internal medicine clerkship. Two (6%) of 35 students had not sampled blood and 8 (23%) had not inserted an IV catheter during 32 weeks of the 3rd-year clinical clerkships. The partial or complete success rate for performing the skills with real patients was 93% for blood sampling and 79% for IV catheter insertion. Ninety (62%) students stated that skill training in the Skills Center during the clinical clerkship improved their basic clinical skills and 62 (43%) agreed that it increased their confidence to perform those skills on real patients.
CONCLUSIONS
A significant number of medical students do not experience basic clinical skills with real patients during the clinical clerkship in a university hospital, although they had relatively high success rates performing those skills.