Bedside infant manikins for teaching newborn examination to medical undergraduates

Objective To study whether using infant manikins during clinical posting could help in teaching newborn examination to undergraduate medical students. Methods 111 final MBBS students were taught newborn examination either by the new method which included practice on infant manikins at the bedside before examining babies (Group 1) or by the traditional method which involved directly examining babies (Group 2). They were tested the next day by validated OSCE stations on important aspects of the newborn examination. Marking was done as 0 (completely incorrect), 1 (partially correct) or 2 (completely correct). Student feedback was also taken. Results Scores were higher, with lesser variance, in Group 1. Student feedback was positive, favoring the new method. Conclusion Use of infant manikins at the bedside during clinical posting improves the performance of undergraduate students in newborn examination.