2008 Volume 39 Issue 3 Pages 153-159
Community medicine clerkships are said to be an important element of current undergraduate medical education. However, little is known about what medical students actually learn from them.Therefore, we performed a study by means of significant event analysis to examine what medical students had learned from 2-week community medicine clerkships.
1) Students in 2006 took part in 2-week community medicine clerkships and then in sessions at the end of their clerkships to review their experiences.
2) The review sessions were recorded, and the students'impressions were extracted and categorized.
3) The depth of their impressions was categorized into 4 depth levels (describing, commenting, generalizing, and planning).
4) Students gave their impressions of the medical system, the role of physicians, patient-centered care, role models, and clinical ethics, and the impressions of most students were at the levels of commenting and generalizing.
5) Medical students learned system-based practice and medical professionalism during their community medicine clerkships, and significant event analysis was a valuable tool for understanding their experiences.
