Influence of skills laboratory training on students' perceived self-efficacy

Abstract

In 2005 the “practical year” was introduced at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover to involve students in clinician’s daily work(*1). However, students reflecting on their practical competences, showed a lack of self-efficacy(*2). To improve this, a one-week skills-lab-training immediately before starting a ten week clinical rotation at the small animal clinic was introduced. During the last week of their rotations students have to pass a formative objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)(*3). Students were divided into two groups. Group A (n=64 students) did only clinical rotations; Group B (n=58 students) in addition underwent the one week skills lab training. A survey to evaluate student’s self-efficacy before (pre-clinical survey) and after (post-clinical survey) clinical rotations was carried out. Each survey consists of 20 questions with a four Likert scale to evaluate students’ resources and deficits as well. The survey was developed based on validated surveys(*4,*5). In both groups, students got significantly higher scores (p< 0,01) for self-efficacy after their rotations. The post-clinical survey showed that students from Group B showed significant higher scores (p< 0,001) for self-efficacy compared to Group A. Group A has a post-mean of 2,58 for resources and 2,09 for deficits. Group B has a post-mean of 2,74 for resources and 1,90 for deficits. The comparison of the groups therefore demonstrates a significant impact on self-efficacy after skills-lab-training. References:

*1. Wagels R. FK, Tipold A. Einführung und Evaluierung des praktischen Jahres an der Tierärztlichen Hochschule Hannover. GMS Zeitschrift für medizinische Ausbildung. 2008;25 (4)(Doc 98). *2. Rösch T, Schaper E, Tipold A, Fischer MR, Dilly M, Ehlers JP. Clinical skills of veterinary students - a cross-sectional study of the self-concept and exposure to skills training in Hannover, Germany. BMC veterinary research. 2014;10(1):302. *3. Engelskirchen S, Ehlers JP, Tipold A, Dilly M. Effects of integrated clinical skills lab training in small animal medicine rotations at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. VetEd Symposium, Glasgow. 2016. *4. Krampen G. Fragebogen zu Kompetenz-und Kontrollüberzeugungen:(FKK): Hogrefe, Verlag für Psychologie; 1991. *5. Dilly M, Tipold A, Geuenich K. Stressed out or subjective acquisition of competence–how do veterinary students see their curative work placement? GMS Journal for Medical Education. 2016;33(1).