Interns' evaluation of their preparation for general practice: a comparison between the University of Tromsø and the University of Bergen

Abstract

A total of 168 interns who have graduated from the Medical Schools of Bergen and Tromsø were asked about various aspects of the medical curriculum. In Bergen the curriculum has a traditional structure with a pre-clinical and a clinical part, but in Tromsø the pre-clinical and clinical subjects are integrated. In addition, the students in Tromsø spend long periods in municipal hospitals and in the primary health care service. We were interested in how the interns from the two universities evaluated their respective curricula and how prepared they felt for their current work. There was a response rate of 86% to the questionnaire. The results showed that the interns from Tromsø are more satisfied with their education and feel more confident in their practical skills than the interns from Bergen. They are also more motivated for future work in general practice. In our opinion the main reason for these results is the difference in curricula in the two medical schools. Other possible reasons are also discussed.

Medical graduates evaluate the effectiveness of their education

“…Many of the respondents thought, however, that some subjects had been inadequately covered, including clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, management of the NHS, medical ethics and the law relating to medicine, care of the elderly and general practice and community medicine. These responses are in line with other findings (Kaisen et al 1984; Kumpusalo et al 1991; Dawe 1992a,b). Kennedy (1983) too has called for more emphasis on medical ethics in the undergraduate curriculum, and Richardson (1983) found that many of the graduates from Aberdeen felt that the teaching in dermatology and ENT had been underrepresented, a comment made by some of the King's respondents.…”

An assessment of priority and educational value in a medical curriculum

“…Since the curriculum in most medical schools in Scandinavian countries is more or less similar, it was possible to compare the results from this study with data from a Norwegian (Kaisen et al 1984) and a Swedish (Eriksson 1953) investigation. Comparing the priorities of the candidates from the University of Bergen and Lund with the recently qualified doctors in this study revealed the following pattern: subjects of approximately the same proportions were similarly evaluated in the three studies.…”

Performance evaluation of graduates from a community-based curriculum: the housemanship period at Gezira

“…In summary, the results of these studies favour the traditional school graduates in the area of basic science knowledge (Woodward el al. 1981; Woodward & Ferrier 1983) while the new programme students scored better on problem‐solving abilities and social aspects of medicine (Woodward et al 1981; Woodward & Ferrier 1983; Kaisen et al 1984). Two studies attempted measuring graduates' satisfaction with their curriculum and how well it prepared them for their internship duties.…”