A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR CLINICAL SKILLS TRAINING IN OBSTETRICS

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background : Compared to the traditional "eye-to-eye" teaching, technical advances offer a new teaching potential for the improvement of the learning outcomes and professional development in medical studies.In this article, we survey the students' opinion about the perceived benefit when acquiring theoretical knowledge and practical skills in obstetrics via the application of the HybridLab technique.The aim of the HybridLab training technique is to develop standardized practical skills and to improve long-term memory. Methods : The subjects of the study were 5 th -year students of the Medical Academy of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS) who were studying the Obstetrics and Gynecology module in 2015. In total, the study included 233 subjects (95% of all 5 th -year students). The subjects filled out a standardized evaluation questionnaire consisting of 5 statements, which were evaluated using Likert's 7-point scale. At the end of the cycle, we conducted a qualitative study using an in-depth unstructured interview, where the respondents expressed their opinion about the HybridLab training technique. Results : The analysis of changes in mean self-evaluation scores prior to and after the training cycle revealed significant differences. The greatest changes were observed when evaluating the skills of measuring fundal height in pregnant women (4.62), determining fetal position in the uterus (4.58), and performing FHR auscultation (4.58). The results of the parametric paired test for dependent variables showed that the students' overall self-evaluation of their knowledge after the HybridLab training cycle increased by 3.98±2.1 points (p<0.001). The majority of the respondents (35%) named positive aspects of the training. The smallest proportion (10%) of the respondents consisted of those who did not present their opinion. Neutral experience was reported by 17% of the students, 15% of the respondents provided suggestions for the improvement of this training technique, and 23% of the students named negative aspects of the training cycle.