Preparedness of house officers for independent clinical practice: are we there yet?

Abstract

<p><strong>Background and Objective:</strong> The essential goal of any medical school is to train medical graduates to work as independent clinicians. Inadequately prepared doctors put the well-being of patients at a great risk. The objective of the study was to evaluate the preparedness for independent clinical practice of house officers who graduated from medical schools with the traditional discipline-based curriculum, from both public and private sectors, and with high and low merit.<br /><strong>Methods:</strong> A quantitative correlational study was conducted by using an already validated questionnaire. A total of 241 house officers who graduated from public and private sector medical schools from Lahore, Pakistan, with high and relatively low merit, were selected. The data from the filled responses were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25.<br /><strong>Results:</strong> Out of the 241 respondents, 152 (55.3%) were female and 89 (32.4%) were male. The mean age of the respondents was 24.19 ± 0.91 years. The difference in mean score between the public and private sectors was significant in the subscales of clinical skills, procedural skills, and patient management.<br />Analysis of free-text responses showed a deficiency in procedural skills, communication skills, time management, and management of acutely ill patients in the emergency department in both classes of medical schools. Many graduates suggested early clinical exposure with hands-on training and the addition of modules of ethics and medical laws in the curriculum.<br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The medical graduates lack pertinent training in professionalism, ethics, medical laws, and communication skills which may hamper their appropriate preparedness before dealing directly with the high turnover of patients during house jobs.</p>