Early Clinical Exposure (ECE) as an Effective Learning Tool in Anatomy

Early Clinical exposure (ECE) is a teaching learning methodology, which fosters exposure of the medical students to the patients as early as the first year of medical college. One of the basic science courses in the undergraduate medical program is anatomy, which serves as the basis for future physicians' education. In addition to having a broad curriculum, some students find the topic to be difficult and uninteresting. Many educators believe that studying anatomy in a setting similar to the ones in which it will be used will make the subject more engaging.

The new Competency based Curriculum has introduced a restructured curriculum and training program for undergraduate teaching with emphasis on early clinical exposure, integration of basic and clinical sciences, clinical competence and skills and new teaching learning methodologies. This according to NMC, will lead to a new generation of medical graduates of global standards. Under the current structure, students are only exposed to clinical subjects in their second year of undergraduate study. On the other hand, it has been shown that during clinical placements, students struggle to remember fundamental ideas. The NMC has recommended that in order to remedy this situation, students should be introduced to clinical difficulties from their first year of undergraduate study. As medical education continues to advance, it is the endeavour of educators as well as MCI, to attempt to prepare students for their professional lives. ECE helps to improve understanding, develop problem solving skills & increases interaction. Retention of knowledge is better due to integration of basic science and clinical science and development of self directed learning skills.