The Close Exposure to Radiology Program: Educational Benefits to Medical Students

Background: Radiology clerkships during medical school provide a suboptimal training experience in the Chinese medical doctor training program. Staff radiologists are heavily occupied with clinic tasks which decreases teaching quality. The close exposure to radiology program (CERP) is a novel pathway designed to improve teaching quality, yet students' expectations of the potential benefits of such a program and their willingness to join CERP still have not been investigated among Chinese medical students. Methods: A survey was conducted among medical students of both sexes with various majors and at different levels of training. The students were asked to identify the potential benefits of CERP as well as to indicate if they were willing to join CERP. Results: Of the 1,600 surveys distributed to medical students, 1,394 were returned and analyzed. Most of the returned surveys were from males (1,268, 91%), and most respondents had not had a radiology clerkship experience (1,376, 99%). Most responding students were in a 5-year training program (94%) and in their third grade of training (41%). More than 60% of the surveyed students acknowledged each of the 5 benefits listed on the survey, although no statistically significant differences were seen between sexes, training grades, those with and without prior radiology experience, program length, or majors in how the questions were answered. Students most willing to participate in CERP were those enrolled in a 5-year training program (71%) and those who had previous radiology clerkship experience (89%). Students least willing to join CERP were majoring in somatology medicine (54%) and medical psychology (55%), and only 45% of students in 8-year programs indicated a willingness to join CERP. Chi-square tests indicated that the willingness to join CERP was not associated with sex (chi(2)((df = 1393)) = 128.6, P = 1.00), training program (chi(2)((df = 1393)) = 111.3, P = 1.00), training grade (chi(2)((df = 1393)) = 266.1, P = 1.00), major (chi(2)((df = 1393)) = 456.1, P = 1.00), or previous experience with radiology (chi(2)((df = 1393)) = 142.2, P = 1.00). Conclusion: Medical students enrolled at Fourth Military Medical University developed an awareness of the potential benefits of CERP; however, this awareness did not correlate with their willingness to join CERP.