Practice Doesn't Make Perfect: Clinical Experience With Procedures Does Not Correlate Well With Competence in...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Procedural Competency
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Limited data exists on factors promoting procedural competence in medical students.
• The relationship between procedural clinical experience and assessment performance is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a correlation exists between the amount and type of clinical experience with a procedure and medical student performance on a standardized assessment.

Main Methods:

• Standardized assessments of ten procedures were performed on third-year medical students using simulation.
• Students were surveyed on three types of experience (performed, observed, simulated) during clerkships.
• Pearson's correlation was used to analyze the relationship between experience and competency scores.

Main Results:

• Correlations between experience types and competency scores were small to moderate, with only 5 of 40 significant.
• No correlation was found between having performed a procedure and the competency score.
• 131 students were assessed, and 120 completed the experience survey.

Conclusions:

• No convincing evidence supports a correlation between clerkship procedural experience and competency assessment performance.
• Other factors likely contribute to procedural competence, impacting educational strategies.
• Further investigation into developing procedural competence in medical students is warranted.