Assessment of training needs of student's clinical skills prior to entering the clinical course and Impact of preliminary courses of training clinical skills on students

In recent decades, medical education has seen a new approach to preliminary clinical skill training and early clinical experience. This study aimed to determine the clinical learning needs of students prior to entering clinical course and effects of clinical skills introductory courses on students. This was a single-group intervention with pre-test and post-test conducted on all students who had completed introduction to clinical medicine(ICM) courses in 2012 at Isfahan University of Medical Science. This study was performed in 2 phases: a) need assessment phase that was conducted using broad search and questionnaire b) planning, implementation, and evaluation phase. After identifying the required skills, we designed and conducted training workshops based on the needs. To evaluate the impact of workshops, MCQ test as a pre-test and post-test was held.Self-reported comfort level in dealing with situations that require performing the clinical skills were studied before and after attending the workshop with a researcher-made questioner. Results were analyzed using T and MC nemar tests. Results of the need assessment showed that the third –year medical students’most urgent needs are: familiarity with common paraclinic tests, seriousE & A initial care, resuscitation skills, and imaging skills. In all the workshops, mean of MCQ scores in the post- test was significantly higher than the mean in pre-test. Also, There was an increase in self-reported preparedness in all items related to the skills being taught in each workshop; in 15 cases, there was a significant difference (p <0.05). The findings of the study indicate an increase in knowledge and students’preparation to apply clinical skills.Using the results of this study and similar studies, we can plan early clinical skills learning course in medical education programs.