Procedural and interpretive skills of medical students: experiences and attitudes of fourth-year students.
Publication/Presentation Date
10-1-2008
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent data do not exist regarding fourth-year medical students' performance of and attitudes toward procedural and interpretive skills, and how these differ from third-year students'.
METHOD: Cross-sectional survey conducted in February 2006 of 122 fourth-year students from seven U.S. medical schools, compared with their responses in summer 2005. Students estimated their cumulative performance of 22 skills and reported self-confidence and perceived importance using a five-point Likert-type scale.
RESULTS: The response rate was 79% (96/122). A majority reported never having performed cardioversion, thoracentesis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, blood culture, purified protein derivative placement, or paracentesis. One fifth of students had never performed peripheral intravenous catheter insertion, phlebotomy, or arterial blood sampling. Students reported increased cumulative performance of 17 skills, increased self-confidence in five skills, and decreased perceived importance in three skills (two-sided P < .05).
CONCLUSIONS: A majority of fourth-year medical students still have never performed important procedures, and a substantial minority have not performed basic procedures.
Volume
83
Issue
10 Suppl
First Page
63
Last Page
67
ISSN
1938-808X
Published In/Presented At
Wu EH, Elnicki DM, Alper EJ, Bost JE, Corbett EC Jr, Fagan MJ, Mechaber AJ, Ogden PE, Sebastian JL, Torre DM. Procedural and interpretive skills of medical students: experiences and attitudes of fourth-year students. Acad Med. 2008 Oct;83(10 Suppl):S63-7. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e318183c5a7.
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
18820504
Department(s)
Department of Medicine
Document Type
Article