Sanjay Neeralagi, Sudhindra Babu G. S, Lokesh G
BACKGROUND The mantra of a good medical teaching-learning process is “Assessment Drives Learning.” At present many practical bedside skills of medical students (interns) are taken for granted and assessed in a cursory traditional way. By using DOPS- Direct Observation of Procedural Skills as a method of assessment, the proficiency and competency of interns in bedside procedures can be graded and this will help them to become more perfect and confident in performing the skill. The present study has been conducted to compare the traditional assessment method with Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) to assess the skill of medical interns in insertion of a nasogastric tube. The objectives of this study were- to assess interns’ skill in insertion of a nasogastric tube by the traditional assessment method and also by a series of Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) method and 2. to identify the more effective method of assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS 40 interns posted in the department of Internal Medicine, KIMS, Hubballi, were assessed by while performing the procedure of insertion of a nasogastric tube in the emergency ward (casualty) by the two methods of assessment, over a period of three months. RESULTS Interns assessed by the traditional method had a wide range of scores, whereas interns assessed by the Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) method showed a consistent improvement in the serial assessments. CONCLUSION Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) is a very effective method to assess all the domains of learning including cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills of interns while performing a bedside procedure and is a better method compared to the traditional method as it gives a feedback to the performers to help to improve at all levels of the skill, which is substantiated by statistical analysis.
