26isls30 10.3205/26isls30 urn:nbn:de:0183-26isls307 Meeting Abstract Vipotnik Vipotnik Ula U

University of Maribor, Faculty of Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia

ula.vipotnik@student.um.si author Vidovič Vidovič Iva I

University of Maribor, Faculty of Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia

author Tušek Tušek Daša D

University of Maribor, Faculty of Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia

author Kovač Kovač Lina L

University of Maribor, Faculty of Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia

author Bevc Bevc Sebastjan S

University of Maribor, Faculty of Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia University Medical Centre Maribor, Clinic for Internal Medicine, Maribor, Slovenia

author German Medical Science GMS Publishing House

Düsseldorf

610 Tutoring Peer Teaching 20260507 engl This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). M0648 30 20. Internationales SkillsLab Symposium 2026 Posters 4: Ready to Practice – Anatomie, Simulation und digitale Formate Mannheim 20260312 20260314 26isls30 TextIntroduction: Due to time constraints and academic demands, students often rely on memorization rather than deep understanding. This study examined whether discrepancies exist between theoretical knowledge and practical performance in third-year medical students during Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Specifically, we assessed whether students understand the theoretical principles underlying physical examinations or merely perform procedures correctly without adequate comprehension. This was evaluated by analysing the correlation between OSCE performance and results on a theoretical knowledge test focused on physical examination principles.Methods: The study included all third-year medical students at our Faculty of Medicine. Data were collected in two phases, assessing both theoretical and practical knowledge. Theoretical knowledge was evaluated using a 13-item closed-ended questionnaire assessing understanding of internal medicine propaedeutics, completed prior to the OSCE. Practical knowledge was assessed through a standardized OSCE consisting of five stations: medical history taking, respiratory, cardiovascular, abdominal, and musculoskeletal examinations. Student performance was evaluated using standardized scoring sheets, with the total score across all stations representing practical knowledge.Results: The theoretical test was completed by 96 students (mean score=68.14±15.94), while the practical OSCE was completed by 114 students (mean score=93.92±16.24). Spearman correlation analysis showed a weak but statistically significant positive association between theoretical and practical scores (ρ=0.21, p=0.042), suggesting that higher theoretical scores were associated with higher practical scores. However, linear regression analysis revealed that theoretical knowledge did not significantly predict practical performance (β=0.27, p=0.605), indicating that the theoretical component did not meaningfully predict practical performance.Conclusion: The weak correlation and lack of predictive value of theoretical knowledge for practical performance indicate that students may carry out clinical tasks without fully understanding the underlying principles. These findings highlight the need to better integrate theoretical knowledge with practical training in medical education.Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. 0 0 0 0