Abstract
Background
Increasing numbers of medical schools at Khartoum state with high numbers of medical students with limited teaching hospitals for training, associated with behavioural change of the patients towards accepting the training of medical student's makes simulation based education a best alternative to conventional clinical rounds with real patients.
Aims
To compare the educational effectiveness between simulations based learning and clinical rounds in hospitals as a method of teaching in obstetrics.
Methods
This was a descriptive cross sectional institutional-based study done in obstetric department at Faculty of medicine of Alneelain University 2017, to study simulation based learning as effective methods compare to clinical rounds in hospitals as a method of teaching. The data collected using pre-constructed, validated questionnaire inquiring about simulation based education and clinical rounds, questions designed to evaluate the perception of medical students and then tested the same students marks in their final MBBS obstetric exam comparing their results in questions based on pure clinical rounds versus questions based on pure simulation based learning , the sampling includes 129 students in final years in semester 11, then the data analysed by statistical package for social sciences.
Results
In general more than halve 56.6 per cent of the student preferred the clinical round than simulation based learning as method of teaching. Concerning contribution of tutor in the teaching and clearly defined of course objectives in obstetric the student stated that it was more effective and defined in simulation based learning than in clinical round 51.9 per cent versus 41.1 per cent and 45.7 per cent versus 21.7 respectively. When assessing the exam results of both methods, the study verified that simulation based learning is better than clinical round as method of teaching because there is significant difference in means of exam remarks of those student (17.22 for simulation versus 11.12 for clinical round from total 20 marks ), P<0.01.
Conclusion
The study concluded that simulation based education is substitute and filling the gap in teaching obstetric curriculum in undergraduate medical students