Clinical Skills
General Department Information
The Department of Clinical Skills was established on November 13, 2017 by Alfaisal University College of Medicine board approval. It continues to develop and expand to provide its learners with resources to cover all clinical skills, including undergraduate and postgraduate specialties. The department now hosts a full simulation center that offers a professional training area equipped with a variety of instruments, equipment, simulators, and manikins to support clinical skills training of learners. The training offered encompasses patient and team communication skills, history taking with role play and simulated patients, physical examination skills, procedural skills, and simulation of the clinical environment to inject realism into simulation-based learning. The Department of Clinical Skills is equipped with a variety of low to high fidelity simulators (e.g., Sim Mam 3G, Metiman, Harvey, SAM II etc.), instruments, equipment, an advanced A/V system, and a multitude of up-to-date computers with excellent internet connectivity. The department staff includes a full-time chairman and full-time faculty members, including an assistant professor, 4 lecturers, a male technician, and a female administrative assistant. In addition, a team of 10-12 teaching assistants (TAs) for each course serve as facilitators to facilitate small group training sessions. The department has a very well-structured standardized patient (SP) program and a TA training program whereby all TAs are trained prior to their assigned sessions. The Department of Clinical Skills uses modern educational strategies in accordance with national and international accredited quality criteria including small group clinical sessions, bed side teaching in the hospital, pre-briefing, debriefing, scenario-based simulation sessions, computer simulations, video recordings and video recorded sessions. The Department of Clinical Skills is actively involved in research activities.