COMMUNITY-BASED FAMILY MEDICINE COURSE: DOES IT HAVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS, ATTITUDE AND CAREER CHOICE?

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a six-week Family Medicine (FM) course on students’ self-assessment of their own knowledge, skills and their attitude towards innovative learning methods and career choice before and after the course, and their evaluation of different aspects of the course curriculum. DESIGN: An observational study, where the study subjects were requested to fill out a standardized five-point Likert scale questionnaire at the start and at the end of the course. The questionnaire explored their knowledge and attitude in addition to their general evaluation of the course. One hundred forty-seven fourth year medical students who undertook FM clinical rotation were the study subjects. The course had some innovative features. For example, students were involved in the selection of the course content by identifying their learning needs. RESULTS: A comparison of pre and post-test observations showed a statistically significant improvement in students’ assessment of their knowledge (p < 0.0001) and clinical skills (p = 0.012). A significant positive change was also observed in their choice of FM as a future career (p = 0.008). The intervention was not effective (non-significant difference) on (i) students’ attitude towards innovative learning methods (p = 0.314) and (ii) students’ attitude towards patients and certain ethical issues (p = 0.99). As the curriculum stemmed from collaboration of learners and teachers, the students were satisfied with the content. RECOMMENDATIONS: There is a need to improve the training in the HC by recruiting family practitioners (FP) who have had residency training for the specialty and to train the other physicians in how to supervise and guide medical students. Topics on ethical issues should be introduced into the college curriculum.