Medical school and self-reported practical skills: How do the UiT medical students acquire practical competence in emergency medicine skills?

Abstract

Abstract Aims: To investigate how extracurricular healthcare-related (ECHR) work experience influenced University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway’s medical students’ and graduates’ achieved level of practical training and their self-perceived confidence in selected practical skills believed to be important for emergency medicine.

Materials and methods: Medical students and graduates answered a Likert-based questionnaire probing their amount of training within selected skills relevant for emergency medicine, as well as their self-perceived confidence with these skills. Work experience and other potential confounding factors were recorded as well. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to test internal consistency. Descriptive statistics were conducted for data visualization, and analysis of covariance and linear mixed models were applied to adjust for confounder effects.

Results: 70% of all invited participants answered the questionnaire, of which 81% had ECHR work experience. High Cronbach’s alpha was achieved for questions probing each of the two main outcomes (.927 and .919, respectively). A positive correlation between training amount and confidence level for all respondents was found, and participants with work experience scored significantly higher for both outcomes. Year of study and participation in Tromsø Acute Medicine Students’ Association (TAMS) affected the outcomes significantly more than the other confounders. Work experience accounted for 6.7% and 3.6% of the total variance in the two outcome variables respectively, adjusted for the potential confounders. Estimated marginal means showed that respondents with work experience yielded significantly higher scores than non-workers for both outcomes.

Conclusion: Students and graduates with extracurricular healthcare-related work experience had more training and more self-perceived confidence in performing basic skills relevant for emergency medicine, compared to students without such experience. However, other factors such as year of study, previous education, military medic-training as well as TAMS participation had significant impact on how students scored themselves on amount of training and self-perceived confidence level.

Keywords: Medical education, practical skills, emergency medicine, healthcare-related work experience