title: Perception of final-year medical students about skills attainment in a new medical school of Nepal.
abstract: The competence of clinical and procedural skills possessed by medical students on graduation have received considerable importance in recent years. This questionnaire-based study was conducted at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal with an aim to assess the perception about clinical and procedural skills attainment by final-year medical students in a new medical school of Nepal. Fifty-nine final year MBBS students were interviewed using a set of questionnaire related to the experience gained by the students in relations eight clinical and twenty procedural skills. The perception about the level of attainment was good for most of the clinical skills and for few procedural skills, for example, using an auroscope and ophthalmoscope. The level of attainment was very poor in inserting the flatus tube, aspirating pleural and ascitic fluids, performing lumbar puncture, administering enema and giving subcutaneous injection. The perceived confidence in giving intravenous injection, inserting venflons, catheterizing urinary bladder, performing ambu bag and mask ventilation, proctoscopy and suturing of superficial wound was greater than the level of practical experience. The practical experience was more in doing venesection but the perceived confidence was poor in it. The final year medical students had mastered most of the clinical skills but not all procedural skills equally. Those skills in which they are not competent must be acquired during internship. Training in these skills needs to be reinforced by establishing a skill laboratory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal. drcsagrawal@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Chandra Shekhar
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Sudhanshu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires