Basic knowledge required by medical students for clinic-based clinical clerkship focusing on medical care for elderly patients / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Recently, we reported on the effectiveness of short-term educational programs in clinic-based clinical clerkships that focus on medical care for elderly patients. To evaluate the need for providing a preliminary explanation of the medical care system and the medical equipment related to our programs, we assess the basic knowledge indispensable for all medical students for clinic-based training. <br>Methods: Before the training, we distributed a questionnaire related to our programs to medical students of Oita University who had participated in clinical clerkships. <br>Results: The analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that only 11.4% of the students knew the difference between the numbers of beds in a clinic and a hospital. In addition, 24.3% and 35.7% of the students did not know that vaccinations and medical examinations, respectively, are not approved for health insurance coverage in Japan. Of the students, 31.4% could not see the inappropriateness of addressing elderly female patients as “Grandma”. Furthermore, 28.1% of them did not know the sizes of needles and catheters, and only 18.6% of them knew the difference between a normal syringe and a catheter-tip syringe. In regard to the long-term care insurance system, 62.9% of them did not know of the concept of daily-life group care for elderly dementia patients. <br>Conclusion: These results suggest that preliminary explanations of the medical care system and the medical equipment related to our programs must be provided at the beginning of the training.