Skills Lab

The practice of obstetrics and gynecology is a combination of cognitive reasoning and manual skills. It is both a medical and surgical specialty.

Teaching students the technical skills of women’s healthcare can be done in a number of ways. When I was a student, the junior resident took me into an exam room with a patient and showed me how to do an examination. I won’t claim this is the best way…arguably it could be the worst.

The effectiveness of this “See One, Do One, Teach One” approach hinges on the enthusiasm of the resident, and the resident’s ability to understand good technique versus perpetuation of bad habits. With this type of training, it took me a long time and a lot of practice to become good at this essential skill.

I believe that a better way to teach OBGYN manual skills is to have more formalized training before the students start to practice on real patients.

I’m listing below the topics for skills training I’ve used over the years. Each link will give more explanation and provide the supporting materials.

Some of these materials can be used as a free-standing training aid. For example, the Pelvic Exam Variations video merely demonstrates techniques for dealing with special circumstances or patient disabilities.

Other materials, for example the 5-Minute Breast Exam, are designed to provide introductory instruction before the student practices on manikins or standardized patients.

In some cases, I’ve provided a “Status Check” as part of the training materials. You could call these “exams” or “tests”, but I’ve found those terms both too threatening and not really accurate. Each Status Check is designed to be taken by the student at the end of the training. It assures the student (and us) that they grasped the material. I always tell them that the test doesn’t count for anything, but is a way for them to assess their own mastery of the material. The students grade themselves (the answers are usually on the back). I look at student responses and use them to assess the effectiveness of the training.

Topics

Contraception

Exams and Minor Procedures

Obstetrics

Surgery

Notes from a Medical Educator