{"title":"The impact of an early_exposure program on medical students' interest in and knowledge of rural medical practices: a questionnaire survey.","authors":"Naoto Ishimaru, Ayumi Takayashiki, Takami Maeno, Yurika Kawamura, Hiroshi Kurihara, Tetsuhiro Maeno","doi":"10.1186/s12930-015-0021-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Many medical students in Japan were brought up in urban areas, thus rural medical practice is often unfamiliar to them. The University of Tsukuba created a one-day early_exposure program to provide freshman students with experience in rural practices. This study was designed to clarify how this one-day early_exposure program affected medical students' attitudes toward and knowledge of rural practices.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>First-year medical students (n = 103) were assigned to one of seven rural clinics in which they experienced rural practice for one day. A pre- and post-program questionnaire, rated on a 5-point Likert scale, was administered to assess students' interest in and knowledge of rural medical practice, with higher scores indicating greater interest and knowledge. Respondents who gave answers of 4 or 5 were defined as having high interest and knowledge. One hundred and one (98.1%) responses were received from students. After the program, the percentage of students interested in rural medical practices was increased (pre- and post-program: 39.0% and 61.0%, respectively; P < .001), as was the number of students who wanted to become physicians in a rural medical practice (pre- and post-program: 53.0% and 73.0%, respectively; P < .01).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our one-day early_exposure program demonstrated a positive impact on medical students' interest in and knowledge of rural medical practice. Further follow-up surveys are needed to clarify whether these effects are sustained long-term.</p>","PeriodicalId":39050,"journal":{"name":"Asia Pacific Family Medicine","volume":"14 1","pages":"3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2015-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1186/s12930-015-0021-8","citationCount":"8","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asia Pacific Family Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12930-015-0021-8","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2015/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 8
Abstract
Background: Many medical students in Japan were brought up in urban areas, thus rural medical practice is often unfamiliar to them. The University of Tsukuba created a one-day early_exposure program to provide freshman students with experience in rural practices. This study was designed to clarify how this one-day early_exposure program affected medical students' attitudes toward and knowledge of rural practices.
Findings: First-year medical students (n = 103) were assigned to one of seven rural clinics in which they experienced rural practice for one day. A pre- and post-program questionnaire, rated on a 5-point Likert scale, was administered to assess students' interest in and knowledge of rural medical practice, with higher scores indicating greater interest and knowledge. Respondents who gave answers of 4 or 5 were defined as having high interest and knowledge. One hundred and one (98.1%) responses were received from students. After the program, the percentage of students interested in rural medical practices was increased (pre- and post-program: 39.0% and 61.0%, respectively; P < .001), as was the number of students who wanted to become physicians in a rural medical practice (pre- and post-program: 53.0% and 73.0%, respectively; P < .01).
Conclusions: Our one-day early_exposure program demonstrated a positive impact on medical students' interest in and knowledge of rural medical practice. Further follow-up surveys are needed to clarify whether these effects are sustained long-term.