Objective  To evaluate the implementation effect of "Early contact with clinical curriculum" among eight-year clinical medical students.

  Methods  The electronic questionnaire was conducted among the eight-year clinical medical students in grade 2018 of Peking Union Medical College who completed "Early contact with clinical curriculum" in Nov 2021. The 5-points Likert scale was used to quantitatively assess the overall effects, the improvement of cognitive level of core learning objectives in these medical students, as well as the demands and benefits of course design. The Likert scale score of ≥4 was considered "more improved/demands/beneficial".

  Results  A total of 75 eight-year clinical medical students in grade 2018 were enrolled, and 63 valid questionnaires were collected (84.0%). In terms of the overall assessment of the program, the goal achievement rate of "Early contact with clinical curriculum" was (4.37±0.77) points, the course importance in the basic medical learning stage was (4.48±0.78) points, and the improvement of physician profession cognition was (4.16±0.75) points. Among the cognitive level of core learning objectives in medical students, all seven dimensions were improved to some extent, in which professional values/attitudes/behaviors/ ethics (4.27±0.81) points and physician-patient communication skills (4.16±0.85) points were "more improved". In terms of demands for the curriculum, 91.7%(11/12) of the courses showed "more demands", and the top three courses with high demands were outpatient observation (4.76±0.50) points, ward observation (4.73±0.60) points, and physician-patient communication (4.65±0.57) points. In terms of benefits of curriculum, 66.7% (8/12) of the courses was rated "more beneficial", and the top three courses with high benefits were physician-patient communication (4.73±0.48) points, ward observation (4.65±0.63) points, and outpatient observation (4.51±0.88) points.

  Conclusion  "Early contact with clinical curriculum" in the basic medical learning stage could improve the cognitive level of core learning objectives in eight-year clinical medical students, the curriculum had higher demands and brought more benefits, thus achieving an ideal teaching effect.