{"id":7486,"date":"2026-04-14T14:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/?p=7486"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:51:10","slug":"student-stories-practice-makes-progress-a-student-perspective-on-clinical-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/student-stories-practice-makes-progress-a-student-perspective-on-clinical-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Stories: Practice Makes Progress: A Student Perspective on Clinical Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelsey, a Third Year BSc (Hons) Student reflects on the growth of her clinical skills.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi! My name is Kelsey Wilson and I\u2019m a third year BSc (Honours) student. Clinical skills have always been the cornerstone for my enjoyment of medicine. They are the classes I look forward to every week, particularly in third year when teaching becomes more self-directed and \u2018clinical\u2019 – they remind me as to why studying medicine is so rewarding. I feel that we are supported extensively by staff and Medical Demonstrators throughout our clinical teaching at St Andrews, which prepares us well for our transition to partner school placements (or through ScotCOM). The medical school puts in a great deal of work to provide us with high quality clinical teaching, which is evident through the excellence displayed by St Andrews students.<\/p>\n

Clinical skills sessions show great variety. For each session we are given preparatory resources to review beforehand. I always strive to practice for clinical skills thoroughly, as this helps me to learn more efficiently during the session and, more importantly, have fun! Sessions are highly practical, therefore require patience and repetition, yet as medical students we do tend to be perfectionists! It\u2019s so natural to feel like an \u2018imposter\u2019 throughout your journey in medicine. This feeling is very common in first year, where it\u2019s easy to be hard on yourself, however, can occur at any point in your time in medicine. In hindsight, it\u2019s important to remind yourself that this is only the start of your journey \u2013 with practice, you will improve and get there in the end.<\/p>\n

I recall how excited I was before, during and after my first clinical skills teaching session \u2013 although learning the very basics, it made studying medicine feel more \u2018real\u2019. I was surprised as to how friendly and enjoyable the clinical skills environment was (an atmosphere very fitting in St Andrews). I had pre-conceived expectations that clinical settings are \u2018intense\u2019 and that I should perform \u2018perfectly\u2019. In reality these sessions are the perfect place to make mistakes, ask questions to staff or fellow students, and instill professionalism.<\/p>\n

As a third year student now, clinical skills almost come \u2018naturally\u2019 to me \u2013 work hard and you will get the results! There are so many clinical skills sessions to look forward to, whether it be learning detailed systematic examinations (such as cardiovascular exam), investigations (such as ophthalmoscopy), or communication skills (speaking to patients, using a methodical approach). In third year (both BSc and ScotCOM), the course becomes a lot more clinical, with the opportunity to practice simulated ward-rounds and\/or full-time placement. Engaging fully with these sessions is incredibly helpful, as staff put in a lot of effort to make them happen and they are extremely valuable!<\/p>\n

Not only is the support from staff excellent, but St Andrews is a friendly place, where older-year students are always happy to lend a helping hand! The schools Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PALS) offers practice OSCEs (alongside other revision resources and mock examinations) to replicate the actual exam and help you feel more prepared, all thanks to incredible student volunteers. With volunteers being second or third-year students who have been in your shoes, these practice exams are a wonderful opportunity to receive real-time advice ahead of your exams.<\/p>\n

The difficulty level and content of clinical teaching will progress every year. Expectations increase, but so will your confidence. Looking back at my clinical skills experience at St Andrews, I am delighted at how much my assurance has developed in simply three years. The incredible experience I have had here is what pushes me to excel more and more every day. I am extremely grateful for St Andrews and cannot wait to learn more at my partner school. My final piece of advice is to try and enjoy the process of learning and be kind to yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelsey, a Third Year BSc (Hons) Student reflects on the growth of her clinical skills.\u00a0 Hi! My name is Kelsey Wilson and I\u2019m a third year BSc (Honours) student. Clinical skills have always been the cornerstone for my enjoyment of medicine. They are the classes I look forward to every week, particularly in third year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6525,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1342],"tags":[157,1431,1076,1143],"class_list":["post-7486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-university-of-st-andrews","tag-bsc-hons-medicine","tag-student-stories","tag-students","tag-undergraduate"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 15:28:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6525"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7488,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486\/revisions\/7488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}