gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Clinical work represents an essential component of medical education, as it bridges theoretical knowledge with real-world healthcare settings. Students’ motivation, learning, and clinical skill acquisition are greatly impacted by their expectations about the format of clinical exercises. The aim of this research was to investigate the expectations of medical students with regard to hands-on training in a hospital environment and find possible room for improvement in future clinical education.

Methods: We included 64 students of year 3 from Faculty of Medicine Maribor in academic year 2024/2025. Data were collected through structured, face-to-face interviews. The structured interview guide among others consisted of three questions:

1.

What are students’ expectations from clinical work in the Internal Medicine course?

2.

What do students expect to learn from this course?

3.

What knowledge do students expect to have at the end of the academic year?

The data were analyzed using content analysis, which involved systematically coding the responses and identifying recurring themes and patterns related to the students’ expectations.

Results – categories and codes:

Knowledge

• recognise the pathologies (n=15);
• familiarise with physiologic mechanisms (n=10);
• notice emergencies (n=10);
• understand clinical significance of pathologies (n=10);
• get acquainted with different pathologies (n=10);
• to know as much as possible (n=10);
• get to know some exceptions to the rule (n=10);
• management of the patient (n=2);
• creating differential diagnoses (n=1).

Soft skills

• establish communication principles (n=7);
• learning to behave in patients’ proximity (n=4);
• know how to work with patients (n=2);
• to set priorities (n=13);
• approach to patients (n=13);
• extracting core information (n=2);
• perform focused assessments (n=2);
• handling the patient (n=2);
• to build a sovereign approach (n=2);
• management of more demanding patients (n=1).

Skills

• to perfect examination protocols (n=2);
• strengthen the knowledge of performing examinations (n=4);
• to perfrom basic exam (n=10);
• to determine what to ask the patients (n=10);
• to be able to take patient's history (n=2);
• take patient’s history and perform the exam independently (n=9);
• practicing exams on patients (n=3);
• to develop optimal technique of taking patient’s history and performing exam (n=4);
• to learn practical skills (n=5);
• to be able to correctly take patient’s history and perform the exam (n=5);
• to be able to report findings; to correctly write down the findings (n=5);
• to practice auscultation;
• to learn mentor’s way of performing exam (n=2).

Propedeutics

• to see everyday’s work (n=4);
• get exposed to the patients (n=4);
• get experience with management of the patients (n=4);
• contact with practical tings (n=4);
• applicate knowledge into real-life situations (n=3);
• see differences between theory and real life (n=2);
• gain a good overview of internal medicine (n=5);
• experience pace of internal medicine ward (n=2).

Personality

• gain confidence (n=9);
• to become sovereign (n=6);
• encouragement (n=1).

Discussion: The analysis shows that clinical work in internal medicine is expected to provide a multifaceted learning experience, with students anticipating a bridge between theoretical knowledge and clinical practice. While many students prioritize recognizing different pathologies, there is a notable emphasis on developing soft skills and gaining confidence with patient interactions. Though students are generally satisfied with the structure of clinical practice, there is still potential for improvement.