Practicing procedural skills in clinical settings: A medical student’s perspective

We read with great interest ‘Exploring undergraduate medical students’ perception of learning procedural skills and its outcomes in clinical settings’ (1) as third year medical students at King’s college London. We would like to share our experience with practicing procedural skills and make suggestions to help bridge the gap between learning and skill acquisition in a hospital. Graduates are expected to show competence in 32 core practical skills and procedures in accordance with the GMC guidelines (2). This requires doctors to demonstrate confidence to perform the task safely and effectively. However, we believe that there is a lack of opportunity to practice skills on patients in hospital preventing students from maximising their potential and competency.