title: Learning core clinical skills--a survey at 3 time points during medical education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is generally unknown which clinical skills students acquire during medical education and which factors influence their levels of competence.
  
  
  METHODS
  We asked German medical students how competent they felt in performing individual clinical skills.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Third year students evaluated their competence in clinical skills, on average, not better than 4.7 on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (= 'excellent') to 6 (= 'insufficient'). The average score for fifth year students was 4.1, for final-year students 3.3. Deficits in all groups of students were most prominent in communication skills and diagnostic skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are a plea for a structured curriculum including training courses to practice clinical skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice/Family Medicine, University of Göttingen, Germany. tfische@gwdg.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Chenot
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmenroth-Nayda
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heinemann
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kochen
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Himmel
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors