The role of skill laboratories in graduate and postgraduate medical education

Abstract:

Skill laboratories play an important role in medical education due to the many reasons, one of them being the patients’ safety. Within the contemporary reforms of medical education, a skill lab was opened at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in 1989. It is equipped with the manikins and models for basic life support training and practicing different diagnostic and therapeutic skills, such as administering intramuscular and intravenous injections. The skill lab is available to both graduate and postgraduate medical students, including the residents in family medicine. The training is organized in small groups, but there is also an option of individual training depending on the needs of each student. The students highly value this type of education. However, the availability of the teaching staff and investments in material resources remain the main challenges in the optimal utilisation of the skill lab. 

Key words:
clinical competence; education, medical, graduate; education, medical, undergraduate; teaching