Viewpoints of second year medical students about Early Clinical Experience (ECE) in teaching endocrine and gastrointestinal physiology

Background: The importance of Early Clinical Experience (ECE) in education is increasing. This study aimed to investigate the viewpoints of medical students about ECE in teaching  endocrine and gastrointestinal physiology lessons.Method: This study was conducted on ۹۶ second-year medical students in endocrinology and gastrointestinal physiology classes including ۱۵ sessions in the first and second academic semesters of ۲۰۲۲-۲۰۲۳. The first ۴۵ minutes of the class was taught via the lecture method, after the ۵ minutes break, the second ۴۵ minutes of the class started by lecture method and a question based case-senario related to the teaching subject of the same session was asked from standard questions of United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE). A researcher-made questionnaire was used at the end of sessions to assess the students' viewpoints. The questionnaire included ۱۲ questions about ECE teaching method, quality of learning, content quality, and student motivation. They were rated by a ۵ point Likert scale from completely disagree to completely agree.Results: The mean age of students was ۲۰.۸۲±۱.۳۷ years and ۵۱ (۵۳.۱%) of them were male. The mean score of overall students’ motivation, quality of teaching and learning quality was ۶.۸۵ ± ۱.۹۷,  ۷.۱۶±۲.۴۶, and ۱۴.۴۷±۳.۸ respectively.Conclusion: This study suggested the early clinical exposure in teaching endocrine and gastrointestinal physiology. This educational method can be used to solve problems such as students' understanding of the lack of connection between basic and clinical sciences to increase their motivation for learning.

Keywords:

Early Clinical Experience , Endocrine and Gastrointestinal Physiology , medical students , Viewpoints , Medical education