The Logbook Effect on Clinical Learning of Interns in Internal Ward Rotation in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Background and purpose: The learning experiences of medical students happen in diverse settings.Logbook is a long known tool to manage and guide these experiences but the studies had varying results this study is an attempt to examine the educational benefits of logbooks .Methods: In this quasi-experimental study the externs were divided into to equivalent groups as intervention and control group. For the controls the routine program was delivered while logbook was used in addition to routine learning activities for intervention group. The students was examined with an OSCE and MCQ exam at completion of rotation. The results were compared.Results: Of 53 subjects, 28 were assigned in control groups and 25 were placed in intervention groups. The intervention groups’ performance on OSCE was not significantly different from control group (14.84±1.87 vs 13.93.2.15, P > 0.05). The intervention groups performance on 5 stations of OSCE assessing clinical skills compared with the control groups performance on these stations showed a significant difference of 6.4 out of 20 (P < 0.0001) while the intervention groups performance on 7 stations assessing factual knowledge compared with the control groups performance on these stations showed no significant difference (0.2, P > 0.05).Conclusion: The introduction of logbook was associated with increased clinical skills while no improvement of factual knowledge was observed.