The evaluation of the CD-ROM program was very favourable. The majority of students still preferred live demonstrations but found the CD-ROM useful for revision purposes. With the exception of one skill, endotracheal intubation, the new curriculum students were found to be as competent as the students following the traditional curriculum and performed mask ventilation and cardiac massage significantly better than them.

The University of Pretoria implemented a problem-oriented undergraduate medical curriculum that emphasizes experiential learning and the mastering of practical skills. Students' experiences with acquiring practical skills in a skills laboratory and the impact that acquiring these skills has on their clinical practice were explored and described. A qualitative, investigative, descriptive and contextual design was used. Data were collected at focus-group discussions and analysed using Tesch's methodology. A literature control was conducted to identify similarities of and uniqueness in the research findings. Trustworthiness was established by utilizing Guba's model for the trustworthiness of qualitative research (Lincoln & Guba, 1981). The findings were that attitudes, knowledge and skills are interrelated and contribute to an enhanced process of learning. The interrelated learning process has a positive effect when students progress from the skills laboratory to clinical practice. Students made valuable recommendations that should contribute to the optimal use of the skills laboratory.

The protective benefit of the SUWP was statistically significant for SD incidence. Owing to high mean BMI, SUWP had a negative impact on the incidence of LLDs for the first 2 months.