RESUMO
Objective To investigate the effective ways of improving medical students' clinical competence during the process of internship. Methods Totally 398 students of clinical medicine from 2006 and 2007 grade in Soochow University were enrolled as research objects. Forty objects distribut-ed to the First Affiliated Hospital were taken as experiment group while 358 objects distributed to other hospital as control group. In experiment group, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was introduced during regular internship, innovation was made on test on completion of a course and autonomous learning and clinical practice was advocated and enhanced. Traditional practice and ex-amination method was used in control group. SPSS 19.0 was used to do statistical analysis on the test scores of students. Paired sample t test and independent sample t test were employed. Measurement data is expressed as x±s and P<0.05 signifies statistically significant differences. Results Clinical practice ability of students in experiment group was enhanced to various degrees after internship com-pared with that before internship. ECG interpretation, heart and lung auscultation, interrogation tech-nique, medical and surgical operation performances of students in experiment group were promoted significantly (P<0.05). Students' overall competence in the final graduation skill test was better in ex-periment group than in control group (P<0.05). Conclusions OSCE-test on completion of a course not only make intern management more effective, but also make students' aim more definite, therefore it is conducive to enhancing clinical competence.