WHERE IS HERE, WHAT AM I?DESIGNING, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF AN INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL CLERKSHIP COURSE FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS*

Introduction: Clinical education environment is unfamiliar to students, comparing to previous learning environments. It seems that designing a program to match actual needs of students for adopting to this new environment may lead to more cooperation of them and improve educational outcomes: Method: Learning needs for such a course were assessed according to viewpoints of both medical students in the first year of clinical clerkship and expert clinical teachers. The course was implemented as a two-day seminar, and the attitudes and outcomes were measured with a self-administered questionnaire. Findings: Although the course was optional for the students, the majority of students participated in it to the end. Most of them claimed that the program was useful and essential in improving their activities and knowledge. Discussion: Regarding the active participation of students during designing process and implementation of this course and their satisfaction of participation, it seems that this program helped those students sho are to enter clinical clerkship, yet more specialized courses are felt needed. Coordination of all authorities who are responsible for clinical education in designing a complete course of clinical introduction is essential.