In the current medical environment, Chinese medical students have fewer and fewer opportunities for practice at the internship stage, which leads to a serious lack of clinical skills to meet the demands of the real world of work. In this study, we used a practical training scenario simulation teaching method oriented to strengthen clinical skills, and systematically compared the teaching effectiveness with that of traditional internship teaching models. This study included 40 5-year clinical medicine interns who practiced in the Department of Neurology at our hospital. They were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, with 20 participants in each group. The control group adopted the bedside teaching, and the observation group adopted the practical training scenario simulation teaching method. Students in both groups were assessed using Mini-CEX scores on comprehensive qualities related to clinical skills, including physical examination of the nervous system, humanistic care, communication skills, organizational skills, etc And then, their learning outcomes are assessed in the form of after-department examination. After the internship, all the scores of teaching effect of students in the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, especially in terms of doctor-patient communication, physical examination of the nervous system, localization and nature determination, organizational skills, and overall performance (P < 0.05). The results of students' exit exams, students' and teachers' teaching satisfaction of the observation group were significantly better than those of the control group (P < 0.05). This method has an obvious promotion effect on the improvement of medical students' clinical skills. The method significantly improves the performance of medical students during the internship stage, and results in higher teaching satisfaction for teachers and students.
Keywords: Clinical skills; Mini-CEX; internship stage; neurology department; practical training scenario simulation teaching method.