EVALUATION OF SKILLS TRAINING DURING CLERKSHIPS USING STUDENT FOCUS GROUPS

At the medical faculty of the University of Antwerp, student focus gro ups were used to evaluate the process of training basic clinical and p rocedural skills during clerkships. Eighteen final-year medical studen ts participated and received modest remuneration. Two parallel groups had three meetings during which four topics were discussed. Finally, o ne consensus text was approved by students. Findings were that skills training was insufficiently attuned to clerkships, a clerkships logboo k was not well wed by students or faculty and the junior doctor is the most important teacher during the clerkships. Students also reported a lack of feedback. They liked 'on calls' and outpatient clinics, and preferred peripheral clinics to the larger university hospital. The ge neral conclusion is that in this conventional medical school, clerkshi ps resemble a mix of many unstructured educational events.