Impact of Certification of Competencies on Undergraduate Medical Students

Background A competency-based undergraduate curriculum reinforces the need for certification of certain essential skills. The development of competencies would be the main emphasis of teaching-learning and assessment, which would continue until the target competency was attained. This study was planned to evaluate the impact of certification of competencies among second-year students in the Department of Pharmacology in terms of knowledge and feedback. Methodology After receiving approval from the institutional ethics committee, this study was conducted on MBBS second-year students in the department of pharmacology at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Rajasthan, India. After teaching certifiable competencies in practical class, students were given standardized validated multiple choice questions as pre-tests before certification and post-tests after certification. The feedback was analyzed using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to assess students' satisfaction and attitude at the end of a session. Results A total of 123 second-year MBBS students who completed both pre- and post-tests were enrolled in the study. The mean score before and after the test was 10.90 ± 2.80 and 13.08 ± 2.90, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between before and after test scores (p < 0.0001). Conclusion According to the study's findings, the certification of certifiable competencies showed a significant improvement in the performance of students after the intervention. This shows that it played an important part in improving students' knowledge. Thus, it is an effective tool to impart knowledge among students where discussions with faculty and feedback to students play important roles.