Students’ opinions about the effects of preclinical patient contacts on their learning

Abstract

Several reasons have been given why students should have contacts with real patients early in the undergraduate medical curriculum, i.e., in the preclinical phase. However, it is not clear exactly what effects early patient contacts have with regard to knowledge construction and the development of clinical reasoning skills. We sought students' views of the effects of preclinical real patient contacts on their learning, knowledge construction and development of clinical reasoning. Twenty-four students in the third and last preclinical year of a 6-year undergraduate medical programme were divided into three focus groups which met twice, after which saturation was reached. The discussions were recorded and transcribed. Summaries of the discussions were approved by the students after some modifications. Atlas-ti software was used to create a coding framework resulting in identification of main themes and sub themes. Early patient contacts motivate students to study, help them understand the impact of illness on patients' lives, and enhance professional socialisation and memory processes. Students distinguish between analytic and non-analytic clinical reasoning in connection with real patients. Analytic reasoning involves clinical and basic science knowledge. Non-analytic reasoning involves pattern recognition and is made possible by experiential learning from different patient contacts. The students indicate that seeing real patients early in their training has several positive effects on their learning. The contacts enhance knowledge construction and 123Adv in Health Sci Educ (2008) 13:633-647 DOI 10.1007 clinical reasoning. Although our results will have to be validated by quantitative, observational and experimental research, they imply that educational benefits are to be gained from real patient contacts in the preclinical phase of medical education.

Exploratory study of factors related to educational scores of first preclinical year medical students

“…The teacher can create learning activities for students to interact with patients (10,18). Early contact with patients strongly helps students realize their role and responsibility as future physicians (4,20). Teachers could illustrate how students could implement the knowledge obtained during the preclinical year in improving or promoting the health of the community.…”

Motivation as an independent and a dependent variable in medical education: A review of the literature

“…Early contact with patients stimulates students' motivation for biomedical and further study by connecting theory to clinical practice (Diemers et al 2008;Von Below et al 2008). Thus, students were inspired towards their future work as doctors.…”

Comparison of two case-based learning conditions with real patients in teaching occupational medicine

“…in the preclinical phase, also stimulates students' motivation for biomedical and further study (Dammers et al 2001;Diemers et al 2007;Takkunen et al 2011). As a result of encountering real patients, students reported to be better prepared for clinical work and were more aware of the impact of illness on patients (Diemers et al 2007(Diemers et al , 2008Takkunen et al 2011). Medical specialism such as pneumology or cardiology have little difficulty in identifying suitable patients on wards who are willing to cooperate in learning activities and talk to students in small groups.…”