Comparing clinical attachments in primary and secondary health center to prepare medical students entering clinical rotation: a quantitative study

ByWidyandana

Comparing clinical attachments in primary and secondary health center to prepare medical students entering clinical rotation: a quantitative study

Author:  Widyandana, MD, MHPE

Introduction

Recent studies recommend that medical education institution should prepare their pre-clinical students entering clinical rotation using early clinical exposures in real clinical settings. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of clinical attachment in primary health centers (PHC) with secondary health center (SHC) to prepare students entering clinical rotation.

Methods

Clerkship preparation program is five weeks clinical attachment in real clinical environments to prepare students entering clinical rotation. This study randomly recruited 59 fourth year pre-clinical students from Faculty of Medicine Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia which have clerkship preparation program in PHC, compare with 46 students from Faculty of Medicine, Muhammadiyah Jakarta University, Indonesia which have the same program conducted in SHC. Data collection using “Preparation for Hospital Practice Questionnaire (PHPQ)” by Hill et al. (1998) and analyzed using Mann Whitney test and Bonferroni correction to compare student’s level of preparedness entering hospital clerkship

Summary of Result

There are no significant difference (p<.008) between students’ clerkship preparation scores after having clinical attachments in PHC and SHC settings based on 8 areas of PHPQ questionnaire; interpersonal skills (.008), confidence (.567), collaboration(.174), management (.319), science (.073), prevention (.015), holistic care (.023), self directed learning (.091).

Conclusion

Clinical attachments in primary care environment able to prepare pre-clinical students entering clinical rotation equal with hospital environment.

Accepted as oral presentation in WONCA Conference 2011, Cebu, Philippines

About the author

Widyandana administrator