Al-Jayyousi Reem, Abu Mahfouz Nour, Otaki Farah, Paulus Agnes, Czabanowska Katarzyna, Zaman Qamar, AlAshkar Masa, Stanley Adrian, Kilian Paddy
College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Health, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mediclinic Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Apr 30;25(1):638. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07212-9.
The benefits of Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) in medical education are often stated but there is limited evidence on how to effectively maximize its learning value. The challenge for medical educators lies in finding ways to enhance the quality of ECE in alignment with students' feedback, while realizing the learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate undergraduate medical students' perception of an innovative ECE intervention in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, developed using design-based research in alignment with adult, experiential learning theories.
A convergent mixed methods study design was utilized. The data was collected using a tailormade survey to solicit both quantitative and qualitative feedback. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS. Qualitative data analysis was inductive based on constructivist epistemology. Following the conclusion of the independent data analyses of the quantitative and qualitative datasets, the primary inferences were integrated using the iterative joint display analysis process.
Out of the 68 students who attended the ECE, 54 responded. The percentage of the total extent of agreement that the ECE: familiarized them with learning in the clinical environment and brought forth the institutional values were 79.60% and 86.43%, respectively. The extent of active engagement and self-directed learning, with a mean of 6.80(2.42), was significantly associated with how much the learners reaped from the learning experience (P < 0.05). A novel conceptual model, namely: 'Early Clinical Exposure Added Value', with five interconnected themes, was developed from the qualitative analysis. Integration of findings led to six meta-inferences: Embeddedness in context of learning, System perspective, Patient-centricity, Theory-practice link, Resilience, and Proactiveness.
The more medical students engage in their learning, the more ECE contributes to building their academic resilience, and propels them in terms of clinical correlations, skills' development, and values reinforcement. Securing engagement opportunities for the learners, when designing and planning for the ECE, is essential. Optimizing the ECE learning value can happen systematically through continuously developing the respective intervention in alignment with the principles of design-based research and anchoring it in constructivism experiential learning theories.
早期临床接触（ECE）在医学教育中的益处常被提及，但关于如何有效最大化其学习价值的证据有限。医学教育工作者面临的挑战在于找到方法，根据学生的反馈提高ECE的质量，同时实现学习成果。本研究的目的是调查阿联酋迪拜本科医学生对一种创新的ECE干预措施的看法，该措施是根据基于设计的研究并结合成人体验式学习理论开发的。
采用了收敛性混合方法研究设计。通过定制的调查问卷收集数据，以获取定量和定性反馈。定量数据使用SPSS进行分析。定性数据分析基于建构主义认识论进行归纳。在对定量和定性数据集进行独立数据分析结束后，通过迭代联合展示分析过程整合主要推论。
参加ECE的68名学生中，54人做出了回应。ECE使他们熟悉临床环境学习并体现机构价值观的总体认同率分别为79.60%和86.43%。积极参与和自主学习程度的平均值为6.80（2.42），与学习者从学习经历中收获的程度显著相关（P < 0.05）。通过定性分析开发了一个新颖的概念模型，即“早期临床接触附加值”，包含五个相互关联的主题。研究结果的整合产生了六个元推论：学习情境中的嵌入性、系统视角、以患者为中心、理论与实践联系、适应力和积极性。
医学生参与学习的程度越高，ECE对培养他们的学术适应力的贡献就越大，并在临床相关性、技能发展和价值观强化方面推动他们进步。在设计和规划ECE时为学习者确保参与机会至关重要。通过不断根据基于设计的研究原则开发相应干预措施，并将其锚定在建构主义体验式学习理论中，可以系统地优化ECE的学习价值。
