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Early Clinical Experience in a Year One Medical Neuroscience Course Enhances Students’ Performance

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Abstract

Background

Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their interaction with patients is known to be correlated with their performance in the clinical rotations. Whether such an experience is correlated with the academic performance in a year one neuroscience course is not clear.

Methods

Year one medical students were allowed to interact in small groups with patients suffering from neurological diseases. The small group sessions were followed by a large group debriefing session to discuss their experience following the patient interaction. Students were administered two structured surveys, a pre-test and a post-test, to evaluate their pre-session expectations and post-session satisfaction with their interaction with patients. The post-test survey results were correlated by objective with formative and summative examination scores.

Results

There was a positive correlation between students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their interaction with patients and their performance on the formative examination (R2 = 0.315). The correlation was higher and significant (R2 = 0.774) between students’ interaction with patients and the summative examination. For students’ perception of the interaction with patients, questions on integration of the nervous system (OR = 3.449, p = 0.002), analytical and imaging modalities (OR = 1.513, p = 0.045), and abnormalities in the nervous system (OR = 2.117, p = 0.034) were significantly associated with students’ satisfaction of their interaction with patients. When a similar analysis was performed on the summative examination, five learning objectives revealed significant association: integrated functions of the nervous system (OR = 3.617, p = 0.005), structure of the nervous system (OR = 1.961, p = 0.021), analytical and imaging modalities (OR = 2.212, p = 0.031), orientation of anatomical features (OR = 1.512, p = 0.037), and abnormalities in the nervous system (OR = 2.413, p = 0.002).

Conclusion

Interaction with patients with neurological diseases was positively correlated with the students’ academic performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine-Greenville, University of South Carolina, Greenville, SC, 29605, USA

    Leanne Brechtel, Leah Womack, Chibueze Ubah, Jordan Gainey, Jordan Gainey, Jasmine Pendergrass, Rakiya Faulkner, Melinda Ingiaimo, Asa C. Black Jr & Thomas I. Nathaniel

  2. Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC, USA

    Sandip Jain, Lee Madeline & Chris Troup

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  1. Leanne Brechtel
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  2. Leah Womack
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Correspondence to Thomas I. Nathaniel.

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This research was approved by IRB at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee.

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Brechtel, L., Womack, L., Ubah, C. et al. Early Clinical Experience in a Year One Medical Neuroscience Course Enhances Students’ Performance. Med.Sci.Educ. 28, 315–326 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-018-0545-2

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