title: Comparison of clinical skills of 3rd-year students who completed structured clinical skills program with 6th-year students who acquired clinical skills in unsystematic way.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The timing and methods of teaching clinical skills are some of the main concerns of medical education.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to compare clinical skills of the 3rd and 6th-year students who acquired clinical skills training within different years and methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomly chosen students were observed and evaluated in the form of "did it-didn't do it" over the checklists composed of parameters of communication, history taking, and physical examination. The results were evaluated on the SPSS 10.0 for Windows program and Pearson chi-square test was used in the statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Third-year students who had clinical skills training in early years and structured methods had better results for most of the parameters (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical skills training given through a structured program that is widespread in the early years of medical school makes a great contribution to the development of students' clinical skills.
authors.affiliation: Family Medicine Department, University of Dokuz Eylü1, Izmir, Turkey. dilek.guldal@deu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Güldal
authors.forename: Nilgün
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ozçakar
authors.forename: Neşe
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yeniçeri
authors.forename: Citim
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dontlu
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ulusel
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D013337:Students, Medical; D014421:Turkey