Got Skills?

Abstract

Health professional education is designed to help learners gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for practice. There has been extensive reform in health professional curriculums to emphasize the teaching, development, and assessment of clinical skills. As medical education continues to evolve due to changes in healthcare, and with the ever-increasing growth of technology, it is important to ensure that health professional students are ready to practice successfully. Many curriculums have incorporated clinical skills laboratories to provide learners a safe and protected environment to practice those skills necessary for their profession. Thus, students must acquire, maintain, and enhance their clinical skills techniques as they progress in their education and be properly assessed before they approach real patients. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic required educational transition to a remote platform, providing both challenges and opportunities for health education. This chapter reviews how remote skills-based courses can teach and assess clinical skills effectively.