Background:
Early clinical exposure (ECE) is a teaching learning methodology which fosters the exposure of medical students to the patients as early as the first year of medical college. ECE is a form of vertical integration pattern between preclinical subjects and clinical subjects. It is basically “A teaching and learning methodology which fosters exposure of medical students to patients (actual human contact) as early as the first year of medical college, in a social or clinical context that enhances learning of health, illness or disease, and the role of the health professional.”
Aim:
With this background in present study, we tried to explore the opinion of 1st year students and 2nd year students on early clinical exposure.
Methods:
The study was carried out on a total of 200 students including both 1st and 2nd year MBBS students. They were subjected to a set of internally validated questionnaires. Responses were collected on Likert scale format and tabulated and statistical analysis was done to compare the perspectives of 1st and 2nd year students.
Results:
The unpaired t test done on 5point Likert scale scores for 1st and 2nd year students showed a statistical value of 0.736 with p value of 0.463 which is statistically not significant.
Conclusion:
The findings of this study highlight the significant role of Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) in shaping the learning experience of first and second-year MBBS students. The data collected from the validated questionnaires reveal that students generally perceive ECE as a valuable component of their medical education that enhances their understanding of health and illness, as well as the role of healthcare professionals.
Key words: ECE, Learning tool, MBBS students
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