ABSTRACT
Background: The aims of the present study were to reveal the impact of the introduction of social medicine training one year earlier in a new university curriculum on subjective/objective evaluation of medical students, and to discuss the readiness of said students. Methods: In this natural experiment study, subjects comprised 73 third- (n = 31) and fourth-grade (n = 42) medical students who participated in social medicine training, namely “Family Health Practice Tutorial,” in 2017. The data consisted of student’s self-assessment and assessment from clients. The associations between these assessments and student grade were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test and ordinal logistic regression. Results: The score for “Language” in the assessment from the clients was significantly lower in the third-grade students than in the fourth-grade students after adjustment for gender (odds ratio = 0.147; 95% confidence interval = [0.027, 0.797]). Discussion: Insufficient readiness for language to residents in the community was found in third-grade medical students. Advanced communication training prior to practice for third-grade students may contribute to sustainable social medicine training in the community.
ABSTRACT
The Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine in Fukushima Medical University has carried out "Family Health Practice Tutorial" as part of social medicine training for undergraduate medical students. In this training, pairs of students, visited the same ordinary homes three times, and studied the Family Health Practices. Further learning was mainly offered in the tutorial, which is regarded as Problem-Based Learning. The visited family evaluated the students and gave feedback to them via their teachers. We herein present the report on the present state, evaluation method and tasks of the training. We also discuss the meaning of this training in medical education as well as future direction.
ABSTRACT
Medical education in Japan has undergone dramatic changes, but nothing less than a paradigm change is required for the educational model for social medicine. In the 23 years since 1978, we have developed a community-based public health education program. The curriculum consists of a core of family health practice, student lectures, systematic teachers' lectures, participatory research on community health, and health policy-making. The community-based educational model was effective in developing students' active problem-based learning, abilities in health communication, and understanding of community needs as a biologic-psychologic-cultural-geographic complex; the empowerment of students and the community; and a comprehensive approach to the community care management which integrates health promotion and social welfare. We evaluated the community-based curriculum design, which exposes students to a wide variety of medical, social, and psychological problems in a community as a useful public health educational strategy.