Will Early Clinical Training improve the professional skills? : Experience from a New Medical Education in Sweden

• Background: The undergraduate medical education in Sweden is 5½ years long (11 semesters), followed by an 18 months internship before license. The university curriculum used to be 6 theoretical semesters followed by 5 “clinical” semesters. Today it is common with integrated curricula with an early introduction of clinical training.Method: School of Medicine at Örebro University started in January 2011 and now admits 70 students every semester. The first students graduated in June 2016. The educational approach is problem-based learning and the curriculum is integrated with six themes based on physiological processes. Biomedicine, clinical medicine and professional development are integrated throughout the entire programme.Results: In total, clinical placement constitutes 74 weeks of which 16 weeks are spread through the first six semesters. The remaining 58 weeks (semester 7-11) are divided into six longer periods related to the themes. The objective of clinical placement during the first 6 semesters is to practice general clinical skills like communication, history-taking and clinical examination, but also to understand the health care system and the tasks of other health care personnel. The clinical placement in semester 6 ends with a seminar for reflection around the professional development and the value of early clinical placement. The students appreciate the early clinical placements. They manage to acquire general professional skills at this early stage and have the possibility to reflect upon their choice of profession. This stimulates theoretical studies and makes them more comfortable when entering the long clinical placements related to the themes. This is beneficial also for the clinical tutors. The first Örebro students that graduated were satisfied with the preparation given “to work as doctors” and gave the University the highest rank in a national survey.Conclusion: Early clinical training is beneficial for the development of professional skills; it motivates and gives the student an early understanding of their future professional role. A challenge may be to find enough placements and the need for coaching adjusted for different stages of professional development.Take-home message: Early clinical training is beneficial for the development of professional skills.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)