[Evaluation using a logbook of mastering of clinical skills by medical students]. / Evaluation à l'aide d'un livre de bord compétences clinques acquises par des stagiaires en médecine.

The mastering of the clinical skills is of utmost importance for the physician. The teaching of the skills is nowadays made easier with the <> which lists all the skills and their respective level of expected mastering at graduation. In order to do a survey on how good the students are at those skills, a logbook based on this document has been setup at the Faculty of biology and medicine of the University of Lausanne. This has shown that students went through a clear progression of the mastering of the skills during their elective year in internal medicine, surgery/orthopaedics, paediatric, obstetric and gynaecology as well as psychiatry. Such an instrument should in the future help to better guide the learning process of the clinical skills and to do a better follow-up of their progress.

Pilot studies in clinical nursing research.

As clinical nursing research gains prominence in the profession, the need for, and advantages of, pilot studies are increasing. This article describes the purposes of pilot studies, the potential positive and negative outcomes of these studies, and three examples of pilot studies with different outcomes. The emphasis is on issues related to clinical nursing research, particularly research done in acute care settings.