Abstract

Skills days are superior to experiential learning for the development of core procedural skills for foundation trainees

Author(s): Dr Simon Lambden,Dr Georgia Tunnicliffe,Dr Nick Sevdalis,Dr Roger Kneebone,Dr Simon Lambden

Background: The effectiveness of a clinical skills course undertaken by doctors in the first four weeks of Foundation Year 1 and 2 (F1 & F2) postgraduate training was evaluated.

Methods: Participants completed multiple choice question papers and Likert surveys of perceived competence before, at the end of, and two months after clinical skills courses. For comparison, a group of F2 doctors, who had their skills training two months after the study group, undertook pre-course assessment.

Results: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ); The mean MCQ scores of both groups showed significant improvement following the course; F1 doctors (n = 22) from 73.5% to 79.5% (95% CI 2.9 % - 9.2% p < 0.01) and F2 doctors (n = 23) from 69.6% to 77.0% (95% CI 4.5% - 10.2% p < 0.01). At two months, F2 doctors maintained statistically significant improvement over their pre-training scores (p = 0.0025) and over those who had gained experiential learning alone (p = 0.0152). Competence; F2 doctors showed improvement in 5 of 6 skill areas which was sustained at the two month analysis. The experiential learning group had significantly lower reported competence in 2 areas at two months. F1 doctors displayed significant improvements in 3 of 6 skill areas, sustained at two months.

Conclusion: Early clinical skills training offers sustained benefits compared to experiential learning alone.