European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: A new module of “Early Clinical Exposure (E.C.E)” has been introduced into the curriculum of undergraduate medical education in accordance with the recently adopted “Competency Based Medical Education (C.B.M.E.)” approach of teaching that will motivate students to learn and ensure well integrated knowledge of the basic sciences.
Methods: This is a cross section observational study conducted over a period of  six weeks on 99 first year medical students. An early clinical exposure session of three hours was taken on each day for 33 students as per the guidelines set by the Medical Council of India. Appropriate Ethics Committee approval was taken and all the participating students have given their prior consent.
Results: 50.51% students strongly agreed and 41.41% agreed that this module created interest in the topic while 43.43% students strongly agreed that the module led to a better understanding of the topic. 36.36% students strongly agreed that the activity would help them retain information better and 53.53% strongly agreed that it would help in the lifelong learning of the topic.
Conclusion: Early Clinical Exposure will be a very effective way of creating interest and motivating new medical students to study and understand important topics. They will get used to integrating vast amount of information across different subjects and look at the disease and the patient as a whole which will enable them become good and confident clinical practitioners in the future.