Original scientific paper
Self-Reported Confidence, Attitudes and Skills in Practical Procedures among Medical Students: Questionnaire Study
Vlatka Tomić
Goran Sporiš
Dinko Nizić
Ivana Galinović
Abstract
The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of gender, loss of academic year(s), confidence and attitudes of
students on the clinical experience gained by undergraduate education. The survey was conducted during 2004 and 2005
in a sample of 182 students of the 5th and the 6th year at J.J.Strossmayer University School of Medicine in Osijek. The
participants were grouped and matched according to their gender, regular studying, the number of time(s) student has
performed certain practical medical procedure and the self-confidence arisen by performing one. Furthermore, participants
were grouped and compared due to their own assessment of their own practical and theoreticalmedical knowledge,
courses which provide them the least and oppositely – the most practical medical knowledge and their attitude toward
current medical faculty curriculum on clinical courses as well as the possibilities of improving them. Fisher’s exact test
and c
2-test were used to estimate statistical differences between the groups and the parameters in research, while coefficient
of contingency was introduced with the aim of defining their correlation. The results showed statistically significant
differences between male students who performed more practical medical procedures than female (p<0.001), nonrepeaters
performed medical procedures more often than repeaters (p<0.001, C=0.658) while repeaters thought higher of
their theoretical knowledge than non-repeaters (p<0.005). Data analysis showed statistically significant correlation between
clinical experience and the level of confidence (C=0.944). This study confirmed influence of male gender, regular
studying, better opinion about one’s own practical skills and higher confidence in one’s own work on greater number of
clinical skills performed during undergraduate education.
Keywords
medical students; educational status; practical skills; attitude; confidence; questionnaires
Hrčak ID:
26879
URI
Publication date:
3.9.2007.
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