Deviation Factors of Medical Operational Skills in Terms of Clinical Skills Training, Assessment Methods, and Digitalized Education — A Prisma-Based Review

The decline in clinical operational skills among recent medical graduates in China presents a pressing challenge, particularly in the context of the "Healthy China 2030" initiative. This study, which is a systematic review using the PRISMA method, systematically examines the contributing factors and potential solutions through a review of contemporary medical education methods, emphasizing the integration of traditional and digital approaches. This study aims to explore factors influencing operational skill acquisition, challenges in clinical training and assessment, and potential solutions identified in prior research, particularly through digital tools such as AI-assisted learning and virtual simulation. This study uses a theoretical framework centered on digitalized medical education, clinical skills training, and assessment methodologies, using content analysis to evaluate and generalize findings from peer-reviewed literature. The results indicate that while digital tools, such as simulation-based training and online platforms, improve student engagement and satisfaction, their impact on operational proficiency remains inconsistent. Traditional methods continue to dominate clinical training, underscoring the need for a blended approach that takes advantage of the strengths of both modalities. The findings also reveal systemic problems in China's healthcare education system, including insufficient clinical rotation opportunities, lack of standardized assessment frameworks, and socioecological factors such as policy constraints, teacher-student ratios, and economic pressures. This study identifies significant gaps in existing research, particularly the absence of a unified framework to evaluate clinical skills and the limited focus on the digital competencies of undergraduate students. Additionally, demographic factors, including gender and socioeconomic status, emerge as critical influences on skill development. Further analysis suggests that future studies should prioritize longitudinal evaluations of digital education's long-term impact on clinical practice, especially its application in actual clinical situations. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-025-02407-7.