title: A new course in basic therapeutic skills for medical and dental students at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos: student evaluation.
abstract: A new course in basic therapeutic skills for first-year students at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos began in July 1980. The course is designed to teach basic medical procedures in nursing, first aid, medicine, surgery, paediatrics and dentistry. It also introduces the students, early in their medical or dental training, to the role in treatment and rehabilitation of dietetics, physiotherapy, prosthetics and orthotics, occupational therapy and medical social work. The course is in its second year of implementation with 152 students participating in the inception year and 166 in the second year. The former group of students had a pre-test and post-test consisting of fifty multiple choice questions. The latter group were also examined in the performance of the skills taught them using check lists and rating  scales of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) type. At the end of the course the students completed an evaluation questionnaire. As a result, the organization of the course in its second year took account of many of the findings from student evaluation in the first year. The particular learning needs of dentistry students were included, hence the second class of dental students found the courses more relevant than the previous class. The teachers were encouraged to develop audiovisual presentations of their subjects and the increased use of simulators permitted greater opportunity for students to practise skills. The study indicates that student evaluation of course organization and management can be of great value in providing the feedback required to progressively improve the learning environment.
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004497:Education, Dental; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009549:Nigeria; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching