Table 4.

Student self perceived confidence in the performance of 15 common clinical skills

I feel confident and well equipped to undertake the following without direct supervision:	Percentage broad agreement
Inspection of an episiotomy wound	37.1
Postnatal breast examination	39.2
Pelvic examination to assess uterine size, presence of mass, the adnexae and for tenderness and/or "cervical excitation"	50.6
Assisting a woman to give birth normally, including delivery of the placenta (assume this is an unplanned delivery with a cephalic presentation at term in an emergency department)	58.3
Taking an endocervical swab for chlamydia PCR testing	66
Taking a vaginal swab for culture and sensitivity	68.6
Taking a Pap smear	71.8
Inspection of a caesarean section wound	71.8
Locating the cervix using a vaginal speculum	73.7
Abdominal examination to assess abdominopelvic masses	79.4
Physical examination of a well term neonate (including examination of the hips)	81.4
Inserting a wide bore IV cannula	85.9
Measuring symphysial-fundal height in pregnancy	96.1
Checking for the presence of a fetal heart using a hand-held Doppler ultrasound probe	97.5
Measuring blood pressure in pregnancy	99.3

The percentage of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement is shown (percentage broad agreement). The expectation of our faculty was that students should be competent in all of the skills listed.