Sixth Class Students' Performance and Confidence Levels Before and After Training in Clinical Skills Laboratories

Background : Acquisition of basic clinical skills by undergraduate medical students is becoming of greater concern. Clinical skills laboratories may provide a comfortable environment for training and may allow students to gain adequate performance level. The aim of this study is to evaluate students' performance and confidence levels before and after training of selected procedural skills; also to explore students' expectation towards skills laboratory training. Methods : Two questionnaires were conducted before and after training sessions in the clinical skills laboratory, school of medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. The skills selected for this study: suture practice, venous access, arterial access, intradermal and intramuscular injection, central venous cannulation, male and female urinary catheterization, nasogastric tube placement and rectal examination. Although fifty-seven 6 th year medical students filled the first questionnaire at the beginning before training, only 29 students could attend all training sessions, and fill the second questionnaire.  Results : For all trained clinical skills, the mean students' performance scores and confidence levels were significantly increased after training (P <0.001). Expectations of students for skills laboratory were high. Conclusions : The students' performance and confidence levels were significantly improved after training in the clinical skills laboratory.