Abstract
Medical teachers have serious concern about the decline in practice skills of undergraduate medical students. Feedback as a process improve students knowledge and skills toward Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) staining method. This study was performed to identify the areas of concern while performing ZN staining and to assess the effect of feedback on practical skills during microbiology postings. This interventional comparative study was conducted in the department of microbiology on 130 students. Their competency on ZN staining method was analysed through the questionnaires, observation and oral assessment in the first and second session. Effect of feedback was evaluated in the second session. The areas of knowledge gap assessed through oral assessment, observation and questionnaires was about “the unique acid fast nature of mycobacteria” (0.75+0.41), and “grading of smear as per RNTCP”(3.32+0.86) respectively. Formative assessment had a statistically significant difference between the test scores and performance of students (p<0.001). The perception of students based on the questionnaire was statistically significant (p<0.001). Formative evaluation helps identify the students strengths and weaknesses. Feedback provide learners with information on past performance and helps enhance their knowledge, attitude and practical skills. Interactive and timely feedback has a beneficial effect on students performance.
Keywords: Formative assessment, feedback, medical education, practical skills, staining.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Kavitha Shanker
Assistant Professor, Department of OBG, KFMSR, Coimbatore, TN-641032, India
Mobile: 9894076566, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i11.01
