The final year not only gave the opportunity to practice and learn what the job entailed and some of the more mundane aspects of the role but also gave the opportunity to practice communication, history and examination skills.
The CBT assesses the student's scientific knowledge and the OSCE assesses basic clinical skills such as effective communication and physical examination.
Taken overall, though, the picture is of remarkable similarity between the communication and the examination stations, with a slightly higher reliability and variability in the communication stations, both amongst candidates and amongst examiners.
Previous studies found clinical problem solving to be determined by generalizable competence in consultation skills, such as history taking, communication and physical examination and content related competence directed by knowledge [ 22, 23].
The latter is known as bedside teaching and the documented benefits of this method of interacting with patients include improved patient-reported perception of medical teams, increased learner opportunities for development of communication and physical examination skills, and improved attending physician interactions with patients and allied healthcare personnel [ 1- 5].
Although the components of professional licensure examinations should depend not only on public demand but also on professional opinion, most of the respondents in this study strongly desired novice physicians to have a certain level of basic communication and physical examination skills.
It seems logical that exposure to varied rounding methods throughout a career will lead physicians to adopt those patterns of movement that they feel best allow them to achieve the goals of walk-rounds – namely to enhance clinical education, communication, and physical examination skills through a tradition attributed to Osler [ 23].
In the educational setting, when SPs are used for training of health professionals, they offer students the opportunity to learn and practice communication skills, history taking and examination techniques in a supportive, low risk (in relation to the well being of patients) and authentic environment.
B. ardens is the most common species in the study area (personal communication from S.H. Lee) and examination of several individuals by bumblebee specialists (S. H. Lee and M. R. Lee) indicated that probably all observed intrusions were by the queens of B. ardens (although B. ignitus cannot be excluded).
