Early contact with medical practice: A pilot experience in medical students

Introduction. Several studies have suggested that early contact of medical students with medical care may have beneficial effects on their motivation, knowledge of doctor-patient relationship and acceptance of the interest of biomedical sciences. In the new joint degree of Medicine of Autonomous University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University we have incorporated the subject 'Prácticas de Grado' during the first three years. It is devoted to permit the early contact of medical students with primary care, nursing teams and chronic care facilities. The present paper describes its academic features as well as the opinion of students during the first year of the experience. Materials and methods. The characteristics of the subject are described in this section. A survey was performed in the students who completed the first year of the experience to get their degree of satisfaction and the perception with the achievement of pre-established competencies and educative objectives. Results. Students were highly satisfied with the new subject and they believed that planned competencies and objectives were fully achieved in most of cases. Conclusion. The early contact with health care is an important contribution to the understanding of the medical professions by medical students of first year. © 2011 Educación Médica.