MBBS Curriculum: MCI releases details on New Module on Early Clinical Exposure, Check it out

New Delhi: A few days after releasing the details of the foundation course of the new MBBS curriculum, the apex medical regulator, Medical Council of India (MCI) has now released the details of the next module of the MBBS syllabus titled "Early Clinical Exposure"

Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) provides a clinical context and relevance to basic sciences learning. It also facilitates early involvement in the healthcare environment that serves as motivation and reference point for students, leading to their professional growth & development.

Read Also: Foundation Course for MBBS: MCI Releases documents containing details

The objectives of early clinical exposure of the first-year medical learners are to enable the MBBS medicos to:

(a) Recognize the relevance of basic sciences in diagnosis, patient care and treatment.
(b) Provide a context that will enhance basic science learning.
(c) Relate to experience of patients as a motivation to learn.
(d) Recognize attitude, ethics and professionalism as integral to the doctor-patient relationship.
(e) Understand the socio-cultural context of diseases through the study of humanities.

MCI lays down that the course will have the following basic Elements:

a) Basic science correlation: To apply and correlate principles of basic sciences as they relate to the care of the patient (this will also become part of integrated modules).
b) Clinical skills: To include basic skills in interviewing patients, doctor-patient communication, ethics and professionalism, critical thinking and analysis and self-learning (this training will be imparted in the time allotted for early clinical exposure).
c) Humanities: To introduce learners to a broader understanding of the socio-economic framework and cultural context within which health is delivered through the study of humanities and social sciences

The council has laid down the time allotted for ECE in the first year (as per GMER, 2019) is 90 hours which has to be equally divided among the three preclinical subjects. So the time available for each subject is 30 hours

The module will see inclusion in both Internal Assessment and University Examinations Early Clinical Exposure should be part of the internal assessment for the respective subject. During the assessment, questions should test clinical correlation in basic sciences. For the University assessment, MCI noted that the Modified Essay Questions (Problem-based long answer questions), Clinical vignette-based Short Answers Questions (SAQ), objective type questions (e.g.
Multiple Choice Questions - MCQs) and OSPE can include parts of ECE.

To facilitate a better understanding of faculties who will be teaching the subject for the first time, the booklet provides Examples of clinical context and related learning outcomes. For Instance, One-Sample provided by the council talks about ECE through- Acute Myocardial Infarction case (Paper-based case / Roleplay), with an aim that the student must be able to recognize the relevance of coronary circulation in diagnosis, patient care and treatment of AMI. The concepts of circulations would be made clear through the case that would also empower MBBS students to answer the real-life question of "What Next", when encountered with such a case

All these cases would call for evaluation at the end. The council has also provided more sample cases for the ECE module to include Post MI Counselling, Parkinson's Disease, Varicose Veins, Type 2 DM, Acid-Base Disorder. There is also a humanities module whereby learner must explore, discuss and reflect on human illness suffering and
medicine, as portrayed in the literature (classic/contemporary).

For more details about this new module, see below