Introduction of Early Clinical Exposure(ECE) in 1st year M.B.B.S Students in the Department of Physiology

Background: Medical council of India regulations on Graduate Medical education 2012 states that “Indian Medical Graduate should possess requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and responsiveness, so that he or she may function appropriately and effectively as a physician of the community while being globally relevant”1. Early Clinical exposure (ECE) is a teaching learning methodology, which orients medical students towards actual clinical scenarios and helps them correlate their theoretical knowledge with real life situations in the first year of medical college. Methodology: The project was done in the department of physiology at PIMS Medical College, Jalandhar. The ECE program was used as a supplement to the traditional lectures in Nervous System Physiology. One hundred and fifty (150) first year MBBS students participated in early clinical exposure program conducted in the year 2017–18. A Feedback questionnaire (including both open and closed ended questions), after getting validated by the faculty were filled by the students. Students were also encouraged to give their written open comments anonymously. Post session feedback from the students was taken by Questionnaire graded on Likert’s scale. Results: All the students commented that ECE helped them in their understanding of Nervous system Physiology. Most (63%) appreciated the synchronization of classroom knowledge with clinical exposures, and thought that integrated teaching helped in better understanding of practical applications of physiology (65%)