Pedagogically, the course has changed from an emphasis on practical training with a focus on biology, to critical thinking with a focus on sociological studies.
students require a substantial amount of hands on practical training.
Sessions 4 and 5 focus on practical skill training with regard to the particular challenges of families with a chronically ill child (e. g. catheter insertion, injection, blood glucose measurement, dealing with high or low blood glucose, diabetes specific dysfunctional cognitions, feeling of guilt).
Their focus on practical, hands-on training is an additional advantage.
However, as the 5th year preceptorship focuses on practical supervised training with few theoretical elements and little or no formal communication training, it would appear likely that knowledge of communication skills is more easily recalled when students work in a clinical context with extensive patient contact.
In addition, many allopathic students were concerned that lack of focus on practical skills during the undergraduate training did not equip them to perform clinical tasks well.
For many years, the approach followed by policy-makers and education specialists has been to focus on practical and occupational agricultural skill training provided mainly at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Redirecting postgraduate students' training to other areas of specialization that focus on practical skills geared at community level practice with a shorter training period has been implemented in Ghana.
Children arriving with no English go straight into intervention classes, where specially trained teachers focus on practical, everyday English.
Training needs to focus on practical skill development to increase clinical knowledge in areas such as delivering suitable explanations, and to incorporate individual management strategies to help junior doctors tolerate the uncertainty associated with MUS.
