Evaluation of a prerequisite course of histology implementation for Chinese students of eight-year medical programme: a mixed quantitative survey

BACKGROUND: Due to insufficient basic medical knowledge and inappropriate learning strategies, students of 8-year medical programme encountered many obstacles in the initial stage of basic medicine learning. This study was to determine whether a prerequisite course can improve basic medicine learning performance and adjust learning strategies to adapt to basic medicine learning. METHODS: A prerequisite course of histology was constructed by a two-round modified Delphi study. Seventy-four students of 8-year medical programme were subjected to two groups: the prerequisite course group (PC group) and non-prerequisite course group (NPC group). The PC group take part in the prerequisite course by student-centred blended learning approach but NPC group not. The PC and NPC group underwent requisite histology teaching activities after prerequisite course. Examination of the prerequisite course and requisite histology course were carried out. Effect of the prerequisite course was evaluated by an empirical method using a questionnaire-based approach. RESULTS: The results of examinations showed students' scores of the PC group were significantly higher than those of students of NPC group in both prerequisite course and requisite histology examinations (P < 0.05). The results of questionnaires showed that students were satisfied with the prerequisite course, which was beneficial for uptake in medical knowledge, cultivation of clinical thinking and scientific research ability and adaptation in learning strategies (P < 0.01). Furthermore, our prerequisite course is conducive to subsequent courses learning, especially for pathology (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our prerequisite course could effectively supplement knowledge of basic medicine, improve clinical thinking and scientific research ability and adapt their learning strategies. These findings suggest that the prerequisite course is useful and should be introduced in medical curriculum reform at the early stages of basic medical training. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03531-3.