Resumo

PATTINSON, S R  e  MCINERNEY, P. Perceptions of changes made to a clinical skills curriculum in a medical programme in South Africa: A mixed methods study. Afr. J. Health Prof. Educ. (Online) [online]. 2020, vol.12, n.1, pp.12-16. ISSN 2078-5127.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7196/AJHPE.2020.v12i1.1220.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, a medical curriculum review at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, identified too large a gap between the medical school-based teaching in the fourth year of the course and the hospital-based teaching in the fifth year, when students begin their clinical clerkships. A number of changes were made to the curriculum to improve the preparation of students for the expectations of the clinical setting. OBJECTIVES: To determine students' perceptions of how well their clinical skills curriculum in the fourth year prepared them for their clinical clerkships in the fifth year. METHODS: An exploratory mixed methods approach was used. Phase I was a narrative qualitative study. The data underwent qualitative analysis and the categories that emerged informed the development of a questionnaire for phase II. This was a cross-sectional, comparative, quantitative study comparing students taught in the new curriculum (2018; fifth-year students (n=299)) with those taught in the old curriculum (2018; sixth-year students (n=291)). RESULTS: The fifth- and sixth-year students had response rates of 50% and 34%, respectively. The results showed a perception of improved preparation for clinical clerkship through the changed clinical skills training. The p-value for 14 of the 16 questions was <0.05, with a 95% confidence interval, indicating that the difference between the two cohorts was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The new curriculum has resulted in a significant improvement in students' perceived preparation for their clinical clerkships

        · texto em Inglês     · Inglês ( pdf )