Impact of Early Clinical Exposure on Psychomotor Skills of Medical Students in Indian Medical Education Set Up

Introduction: Most attempts at early clinical experiences have been confined to limited patient contact inan introductory course on patient interviewing, a beginning physical examination skills course or electiveopportunities. Early clinical exposure (ECE) and the accompanying knowledge and skill development doesnot replace the basic and clinical sciences but rather enriches and contextualises that learning and offers awider variety of teaching and learning methods.Material and Methods: This Cross sectional study carried for three years duration. In the present study820 students participated. Voluntarily participated students were randomly divided into two groups viz. ECEexposed group (Group A) and Traditional teaching exposed group (Group B ) .We conducted Periodicalsessions (Each duration: 60 minutes). Objective Structured Practical Examination ( OSPE) tests wereconducted towards end of every session.Results: Comparing OSPE test ECE session results with traditional teaching methods found statisticallysignificant in all colleges. (P value < 0.001) (Using Mann-Whitney Test) . We found , Module wise comparingOSPE test ECE session results with traditional teaching methods found statistically significant in all modulesexcept Module number five (P value < 0.001 ) (Using Mann-Whitney Test)Conclusion: From these results it can concluded that early clinical exposure is to be an important interventionfor improving psychomotor skills of medical students.