SE09 TRAINING OF FINAL YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN PROCEDURAL SKILLS: IS IT WORTHWHILE?

Purpose  Doctors graduating from medical school are immediately faced with performing many clinical procedures. This study aimed to assess whether the introduction of a new procedural skills course for final year students increased their confidence in performing these skills at qualification. Methods  Students attending the final year procedural skills course were asked to complete a pre‐course, post‐course and end of year questionnaire scoring their confidence and experience in each of the procedures. Fifteen skills were taught in a simulated setting including; instrument handling, suturing, knot tying, local anaesthetic administration, plaster application, rectal examination, male catheterisation, nasogastric tube insertion, arterial blood sampling and lumbar puncture. Results  The questionnaires were completed satisfactorily by 60, 64 and 93 students at the precourse, postcourse and end of year times respectively. There was a significant improvement in confidence for the 15 skills taught at the postcourse and end of year assessments over the precourse values (p < 0.0001 for all). By the end of the year (3–7 months later) there was a significant drop in confidence (p < 0.05) from the postcourse scores in 10 procedures that was not seen in local anaesthetic administration, rectal examination, preparing a sterile workplace, male catheterisation and arterial blood sampling. In these 5 procedures there was a significant increase in experience between the course and end of year. Conclusion  Teaching procedural skills to final year medical students results in increased confidence in these skills at graduation and confidence is maintained best in those with ongoing experience in the procedure.