Wonca Asia Pacific Regional Conference Free Paper 137 No. 00030 B-3 Use of information technology in resident education Poster/Oral The Effect of Training in Primary Health Care Centers on Medical Students’ Clinical Skills Faisal ALNASIR 1* 1 Arabian Gulf University, Department of Family & Community Medicine Background/Purpose: The effective training of medical students in clinical skills is one of the most important objectives of any medical school. When adequate training is provided, students who graduate as doctors will have sufficient skills to consult a patient by taking proper history and conducting appropriate physical examination. The question under scrutiny is the optimal place for providing such training. Most literature highlights the importance of implementing such training in primary health care centers since the aim is to graduate general physicians. Methods: For this, a special clinical skills training program was developed for Year 4 medical students of the Arabian Gulf University during the academic year 2011-2012. These students were in the pre-clerkship phase and it was important for them to acquire certain skills before transfer to the clerkship phase when they deal directly with patients. For the 130 students involved in this study, a self-assessment and clinical exam were conducted at the beginning and end of the program. Results: It was found that students benefited greatly from this training program with significant differences between their pre-existing known skills and clinical skills acquired by the end of the program. The study also showed that their professional skills’ competencies and verbal and non verbal communication skills have developed markedly when they are trained in a community based primary care center rather than a secondary care set up. Hence it is recommended that primary health care centers are the ideal place for organizing and conducting such training; first, because of the training setting which is usually one tutor to two students; second, because of value of students facing a real patient environment. Conclusion: In conclusion, a community-based clinical skills training module enables students to achieve the valuable learning objectives more effeciently.