After introduction of clinical skills assessment in the Korean Medical Licensing Examination, medical schools have reinforced both experiential learning with real patients and preparatory programs. This study was conducted to investigate whether a clinical practice examination (CPX) preparation program improves students' CPX score in terms of case specificity.

One hundred and thirteen senior students in a medical school participated in this study. During the fourth-year clerkship, 28 students (24.8%) from three rotation groups took a 3-day CPX preparation course consisting of module development, role play, and comprehensive physical exam skills training. Eleven rotation groups (n=85) were compared as control. Both the intervention and control group took two comprehensive CPXs before and after the clerkship was completed.

There was no significant difference in age, sex, and school type between the two groups. On pre-test CPX, there was no significant difference in total and sectional scores between the two groups. On post-test CPX, total scores of the intervention group were higher than those of the control groups (69.5±4.3 vs. 67.5±4.4, P<0.05). History taking scores were higher in intervention groups (70.0±6.0 vs. 66.0±6.6, P=0.01). The station scores of vaginal discharge with case similarity were higher in the intervention groups (73.0±6.3 vs. 68.9±9.3, P=0.03).

A short CPX preparation course improved history taking ability, but its effect was greater only in a specific case, similar to the pre-course case. Whether this effect was due to the test experience or true improvement in competency requires further investigation.

The purpose of this study was to compare students' awareness of and satisfaction with clerkships in family medicine between a university hospital and a community hospital or clinic.

Thirty-eight 4th year medical students who were undergoing a clerkship in family medicine in the 1st semester of 2012 were surveyed via questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered both before and after the clerkship.

External clerkships were completed in eight family medicine clinics and two regional hospitals. At preclerkship, participants showed strong expectation for understanding primary care and recognition of the need for community clerkship, mean scores of 4.3±0.5 and 4.1±0.7, respectively. At post-clerkship, participants showed a significant increase in recognition of the need for community clerkship (4.7±0.5, P<0.001). The pre-clerkship recognition of differences in patient characteristics between university hospitals and community hospitals or clinics was 4.1±0.7; at post-clerkship, it was 3.9±0.7. Students' confidence in their ability to see a first-visit patient and their expectation of improved interviewing skills both significantly increased at post-clerkship (P<0.01). Satisfaction with feedback from preceptors and overall satisfaction with the clerkship also significantly increased, but only for the university hospital clerkship (P<0.01).

Students' post-clerkship satisfaction was uniformly high for both clerkships. At pre-clerkship, students were aware of the differences in patient characteristics between university hospitals and community hospitals or clinics, and this awareness did not change by the end of the clerkship.