Abstract
BackgroundStudents may encounter difficulties when they have to apply clinical skills trained in their pre-clinical studies in clerkships. Early clinical exposure in the pre-clinical phase has been recommended to reduce these transition problems. The aim of this study is to explore differences in students' experiences during the first clerkships between students exclusively trained in a skills laboratory and peers for whom part of their skills training was substituted by early clinical experiences (ECE).MethodsThirty pre-clinical students trained clinical skills exclusively in a skills laboratory; 30 peers received part of their skills training in PHC centers. Within half a year after commencing their clerkships all 60 students shared their experiences in focus group discussions (FGDs). Verbatim transcripts of FGDs were analyzed using Atlas-Ti software.ResultsClerkship students who had participated in ECE in PHC centers felt better prepared to perform their clinical skills during the first clerkships than peers who had only practiced in a skills laboratory. ECE in PHC centers impacted positively in particular on students’ confidence, clinical reasoning, and interpersonal communication.ConclusionIn the Indonesian setting ECE in PHC centers reduce difficulties commonly encountered by medical students in the first clerkships.
Highlights
Students may encounter difficulties when they have to apply clinical skills trained in their pre-clinical studies in clerkships
We have shown the advantages of primary health care (PHC) for practical training of pre-clinical students, compared with secondary and tertiary hospital settings in the Indonesian context [10]
We demonstrated that pre-clinical students who were trained in PHC centers felt better prepared for entering their clerkships
Summary
Students may encounter difficulties when they have to apply clinical skills trained in their pre-clinical studies in clerkships. Clinical exposure in the pre-clinical phase has been recommended to reduce these transition problems. The aim of this study is to explore differences in students' experiences during the first clerkships between students exclusively trained in a skills laboratory and peers for whom part of their skills training was substituted by early clinical experiences (ECE). To mitigate transition problems as described above, Dornan et al [7] recommended inclusion of early clinical experiences (ECE) in the curriculum for pre-clinical students. ECE are supposed to improve preparation of pre-clinical students for their clinical rotations by immersing them in the reality of the clinical environment, by facilitating application of knowledge to clinical practice, and by improving students’ motivation for learning
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