MED-NET Conferences 1998, Lille & 1999, Maastricht
Anthology of presentations 2.5.

A Committee on quality development concerning clinical clerkships

J. Hedemark Poulsen and P. Jaszczak (Copenhagen, Denmark)

In 1995-96 the pre-graduate, medical education at the Danish universities underwent an external evaluation. One of the main criticisms proposed by the inter-Nordic Steering Group behind the evaluation was that clinical education in general - and the practical clinical education given in the form of clinical clerkships in particular - needed improvement. It was specifically recommended that the objectives of the future clinical clerkships become more explicit and that the students become more involved in the activities of the clinical departments.

As one of several activities aimed at enhancing the quality of the clinical education the Committee on Medical Education at University of Copenhagen (which is responsible for the medical education at the Faculty of Health Sciences) established a 'Committee on Quality Development concerning Clinical Clerkships' in 1997. The objectives of this committee are: (i). To collect information from the clinical departments concerning the clinical clerkships, (ii). To perform site visits at selected clinical departments and (iii). To write reports on observations, conclusions and recommendations to the Committee on Medical Education. Eventually this committee would use the reports to demand specific improvements by the individual clinical departments. In the unlikely case that a clinical department should fail to implement the recommendations, it would be in the power of the Committee on Medical Education to abolish the affiliation of such a department with the university.

This far the Committee on Quality Development concerning Clinical Clerkships has performed three site visits. In each case a delegation consisting of a medical student, a clinical professor and the chairman of the committee have visited the department after written agreement with the department's clinical professor. On the day of the visit the delegation attend the morning conference and eventually hold separate interview sessions with the doctors involved in the education and with the medical students spending their clerkship in the department. Eventually a draft report is written and sent to the department's clinical professor and to the students for comments. Based upon the comments the report is being revised and the final report as well as the two sets of comments are submitted to the Committee on Medical Education.

It is too early to draw firm conclusions on the possible effects of the work of the Committee on Quality Development concerning Clinical Clerkships, but it seems likely that it may contribute to enhance the clinical departments' awareness on their responsibilities for medical students' clinical clerkships.

ISBN Number 90.805758.1.X

Contents of this online publication 
at this website

Download this publication as PDF file
To be viewed with Acrobat Reader
Download Acrobat software here

Order a copy of this book by sending 
an e-mail to .