National undergraduate medical core curriculum in Turkey: evaluation of residents

There is very little information available on self-perceived competence levels of junior medical doctors with regard to definitions by the National Core Curriculum (NCC) for Undergraduate Medical Education.

This study aims to determine the perceived level of competence of residents during undergraduate medical education within the context of the NCC.

Descriptive study.

The survey was conducted between February 2010 and December 2011; the study population comprised 450 residents. Of this group, 318 (71%) participated in the study. Self-assessment questionnaires on competencies were distributed and residents were asked to assess their own competence in different domains by scoring them on a scale of 1 to 10.

Nearly half of the residents reported insufficient experience of putting clinical skills into practice when they graduated. In the theoretical part of NCC, the lowest competency score was reported for health-care administration, while the determination of level of chlorine in water, delivering babies, and conducting forensic examinations had the lowest perceived levels of competency in the clinical skills domain.

Residents reported low levels of perceived competency in skills they rarely performed outside the university hospital. They were much more confident in skills they performed during their medical education.