Nursing faculty teaching a module in clinical skills to medical students: a Lebanese experience

Abstract

Nursing faculty teaching medical students a module in clinical skills is a relatively new trend. Collaboration in education among medical and nursing professions can improve students’ performance in clinical skills and consequently positively impact the quality of care delivery. In 2011, the Faculty of Medicine in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Balamand, Beirut, Lebanon, launched a module in clinical skills as part of clinical skills teaching to first-year medical students. The module is prepared and delivered by nursing faculty in a laboratory setting. It consists of informative lectures as well as hands-on clinical practice. The clinical competencies taught are hand-washing, medication administration, intravenous initiation and removal, and nasogastric tube insertion and removal. Around sixty-five medical students attend this module every year. A Likert scale-based questionnaire is used to evaluate their experience. Medical students agree that the module provides adequate opportunities to enhance clinical skills and knowledge and favor cross-professional education between nursing and medical disciplines. Most of the respondents report that this experience prepares them better for clinical rotations while increasing their confidence and decreasing anxiety level. Medical students highly appreciate the nursing faculties’ expertise and perceive them as knowledgeable and resourceful. Nursing faculty participating in medical students’ skills teaching is well perceived, has a positive impact, and shows nurses are proficient teachers to medical students. Cross professional education is an attractive model when it comes to teaching clinical skills in medical school.

Video abstract

Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use:

http://dvpr.es/1s0fRc6

Keywords:

• cross-professional education
• CPE
• clinical skills
• medical education
• nursing faculty
• clinical performance

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Dr Camille Nassar and Dr Nadim Karam, Deans of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Balamand, respectively, for their continuous encouragement of IPE and CPE.

Ethical approval

This work got the clearance from the Ethical Committee of Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, which is affiliated with the University of Balamand, Lebanon.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.