Introduction:

For the correct diagnosis of onychomycosis, it is essential to take an adequate sample.

Objective:

To assess the competence of students of the degree in Podiatry in the realization of nail sampling as a preclinical and clinical experience.

Methods:

Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study carried out on a sample of 75 students, belonging to the second (n=45) and fourth academic years (n=30) of the degree in Podiatry. The second-year students did not have previous experience, while the fourth-year students had already done preclinical and clinical practices. The nail sampling procedure was assessed by the degree of follow-up of each student of the pre-established and explained protocol. In addition, the percentage of contaminated cultures was obtained after the incubation period of the samples.

Results:

The fourth-year students followed the nail sampling protocol more faithfully and contaminated them significantly less than second-year students (23.3% versus 51.1%; p value=0.017). Previous experience in nail sampling (p value=0.027) and in performing podiatry (p value=0.016) significantly reduced the percentage of contaminated cultures.

Conclusions:

A single preclinical practice is not enough for most second-year students to acquire the competence of sampling. The preclinical and clinical experiences of fourth-year students constitute a determining factor for the correct realization of the nail sampling.

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