A comparison of effectiveness of theoretical and clinical learning in increasing the student knowledge and performance

Introduction. In medical education as a caring for a better generation growth, the medical students directly contact the clients to decline their mental and physical problems. To obtain such an ability, in addition to theoretical courses the students should pass some Clinical courses. Which one is more effective to give a depth in learning and practice, we decided to find this out through a research. Methods. In this descriptive investigation through a questionnaire filled out by 180 randomly selected last year medical students, the data was collected and analyzed by SPSS statistic method. Results. 61.5% believed that “clinical education” was the most effective, while for the “theoretical education” the rate was 7.5%. Despite our ‘imagination’ 70% believed clinical education was effective in changing performance, 38% , in attitude and 38% in knowledge. While in theoretical education, the rate was 37%, 20% and 67% respectively. 80% preferred clinical education “only” and 16% a mixture of both clinical and theoretical. Conclusion. This findings leads us to pay more attention to PBL learning and teaching approach.